Actually, a flock of Common Nightjars (Nighthawk), but those white wing flashes!

Pretty neat, we saw a dozen or so hunting high above the fields. They caught my eye because they were just not ‘right’ for either the swifts or swallows.  You know it when you see it sort of thing. Too big, wrong wing angle, and the white wing bars.

It turns out that our little group was probably a trailer of a much larger group, numbering in the hundreds. Shortly, after we saw them above our hill, a friend called asking if I had seen a flock in the hundreds on my way home from work.  The main flock must have been congregating in the river valley, presumably it is sort of gathering up birds as migration begins.

Never seen them before.  Two cool birds in one day (the other was a redtail hawk that I routinely see hunting along a busy urban/suburban road) he caught something in the shrubbery near the Staples/Car dealers/McDonalds, next to a four lane road, as I was stuck at a red-light.  Hopefully, he understands traffic….suburban bird-watching!