Hello friends,
This is a great segue to introduce the Nightjar Survey Network, a volunteer annual survey that some colleagues and I have been conducting for the past several years. Shout out to Shawn C. for introducing me to this survey!
If you’d like to learn more, please visit: nightjars.org
Thanks to everyone who’s been out documenting this species—I’ll be including these observations as an honorable mention in my survey results. My designated survey location (CA043) covers the 10-mile stretch of Sunrise Highway, from the Pioneer Mail Picnic Site to roughly two miles past Agua Dulce.
I’ll be conducting the survey again this summer, and I’ll be sure to share updates here if any notable species turn up. (I will share my point count locations on ebird this year, if results are positive for any species)
I’m heading out tonight to try for CONI with a small group—wish us luck!
Lindsay Willrick
(619) 971-7801
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From: <SanDiegoRegionBirding...> <SanDiegoRegionBirding...> on behalf of Justyn Stahl via groups.io <justyn.stahl...>
Sent: Saturday, June 13, 2026 9:51 AM
To: <lehman.paul...> <lehman.paul...>
Cc: <sandiegoregionbirding...> <sandiegoregionbirding...>
Subject: Re: [SanDiegoRegionBirding] the nighthawk saga (so far)--and future careful documentation
Thanks, Paul. I would add two points:
First, There isn’t any reason or need to leave the trail to see these birds. Obviously folks arriving too early will get impatient, but I think arriving on site by 730pm (it’s maybe 25 min to the site from parking) is the most efficient approach. The first Lesser Nighthawk(s) were out about 755pm and could be heard purring while on the ground. If any nighthawks do nest in this area it would be best not to disturb them by going off trail. The male Common Nighthawk’s fidelity to this site and displaying two nights in a row sure gives us hope.
Second: are there more elsewhere?! Is this part of something larger? Any crepuscular/nocturnal effort would be greatly appreciated for the California Bird Atlas at this and any other trails/trailheads/pullouts throughout San Diego’s various mountains. (I sure wish I’d had the energy to make a stop or two on the way home but 4am was a long time ago that morning.)
A great experience last night. A great find by Andrew and all the more reason to get out and bird outside the box of the usually birding haunts. Curious to see what the rest of June and July brings as post-breeding dispersal brings all sorts of additional possibilities.
Justyn Stahl
North Park
On Sat, Jun 13, 2026 at 8:47 AM <lehman.paul...><mailto:<lehman.paul...> via groups.io<http://groups.io/> <lehman.paul...><mailto:<verizon.net...>> wrote:
The Common Nighthawk situation northeast of Lake Cuyamaca is so unprecedented locally/regionally, that a few thoughts seem worth sharing. Late on 11 June when Andrew Newmark serendipitiously (a real word?) discovered the birds, he only had a macro lens along but managed a great photo of a calling, displaying male, and a second bird with it which appears to indeed be a second Common Nighthawk and presumably a female. He happened to flush one bird and that may have gotten the male up and calling/displaying, at already around 6:15+ PM-- but it was an overcast evening with already low light. Yesterday, the 12th, the assembled masses in the evening started assembling even earlier than that, but it was sunny, and we thought that because of the brighter conditions that we would have to wait longer, but we were not prepared to have to wait until we were all well into a depressed, frantic mode after 8 PM.....
Previous records of Common Nighthawk in (true) Southern California are mostly of strictly casual migrants except for the small breeding population hanging on in the San Bernardino Mountains and a few other possible breeding-season reports in the San Gabriel and San Jacinto Mountains. This site in the San Diego mountains would be at quite a bit lower elevation and is open chaparral near grassland--much more appropriate for LESSER Nighthawk--which see below!
Initial sightings of at least one nighthawk last evening as the light grew dim were of a bird that largely stayed low, skimming the tops of the vegetation, and which all photos obtained showed a male LESSER Nighthawk. This male Lesser was largely silent--as is typical of Lesser--but a few folks did hear a Lesser call a few times in the area. However, a number of folks believed they also briefly saw a bird that may have been a Common also flying low at about the same time, the ID on the basis of their impression of the position of the white wing-patch. It was not until finally 8:14PM that clearly a calling, sometimes displaying Common Nighthawk finally appeared for a very extended period of time, higher up in the sky--as is typical of the species--but also including multiple display dives down close to the ground. And as is typical of Common, once it started calling, it called repeatedly for long periods, NOT just once. Hopefully, if the bird remains, it will start calling and flying around a bit earlier in the evening than it did yesterday!
Most of us do not believe that more than one individual Common Nighthawk--the male--was definitively seen last evening, but it is certainly possible there might have been two birds. And there was certainly one male Lesser Nighthawk, but whether a second Lesser was there is also uncertain.
So what will happen with these birds now?? Well, that's anyone's guess. Will there actually be a truly unprecedented nesting attempt by a pair of Common Nighthawks at a very atypical sort of site? Or will they discover the semi-folly of their ways and move on soon? What sort of interactions may be going on between the Common(s) and the Lesser(s)?? These sorts of questions need to be addressed with CAREFUL DOCUMENTATION of future encounters. Nighthawks observed at this site need to be CAREFULLY IDENTIFIED TO SPECIES, AND TO SEX (plumage-wise probably best by throat color).
--Paul Lehman, San Diego
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