ID please

This one has me stumped. There was flock of about 15 birds. They flew in frantic circles around my property for about 15 minutes.. They were very fast which prevented me from getting a decent in-flight photo.

Searching for birds with bars on the wings, I found the northern mockingbird, but they don't normally range anywhere near this far north.
(Location - Manitoba Canada, Wooded./Prairie with some nearby lakes).

Hey Jim; looks like a CommonNight Hawk there. Those under-wing bars are the giveaway, combined with the fast flight characteristics you're describing. They generally move around like large-ish, hyperactive Swallows

https://www.allaboutbi​rds.org …Common_Nighthaw​k/overview

Wow, thanks Snydremark.. You hit it bang on.

Strange, I've been birding for over 16 years and have never seen a Common Night Hawk where I live or anywhere else. Just to add.. As you mentioned, their behavior was swallow like... I recall thinking that they kind of looked like Hawks, but behaved like swallows.

Yessir! I have only *seen* them twice, and NO luck of even capturing something as good as you managed. They are FAST to maneuver....those wing bars were our saving grace in finding them in the app when we first encountered them, too.

They are known to begin their journey (from Northern Canada) in late August. See https://phys.org …awks-migration-route.html for a study that originated with the University of Alberta.

aa??

John from PA wrote in post #19111519
They are known to begin their journey (from Northern Canada) in late August. See https://phys.org …awks-migration-route.html for a study that originated with the University of Alberta.

I haven't seen the phenomenon myself, but may experienced birders have reported that the southward fall migration has a geometrical pattern like small rivers combining into larger rivers, with many Nighthawks passing in a single place in a dense, narrow stream of them. I've read reports of hundreds of them passing in one place in a short period of time.

WoytekM wrote in post #19123000
aa??

Hosted photo: posted by WoytekM in
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forum: Birds

Hosted photo: posted by WoytekM in
./showthread.php?p=191​23000&i=i72139520
forum: Birds

Can you please tell us when and where you saw this? Region and time of year are important for narrowing down.

August, forests of northern Poland

WoytekM wrote in post #19123557
August, forests of northern Poland

Excellent; thank you! Not anywhere close to a depth of knowledge on European birds, but a quick Google search says that it would appear to be a Pied Flycatcher (female)
https://ebird.org/spec​ies/eupfly1

Common nighthawks - awesome!

Snydremak thanks is her