Nighthawk coverts patterns

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: Hi: : I was going to lay off the nighthawk, as I don't have much experience studying Lessers, but believed that those supporting Lesser were correct. I still believe that they are correct, but wanted to bring some attention to a set of feathers that have not been mentioned by others and ask a question. : Sibley illustrates Lesser as having wide, white tips to the lowest row of lesser coverts and Common as having these feathers as unremarkable. This would seem to suport the quiz bird as a Lesser. Does anyone have any experience studying this set of feathers and is this gen reliable? : One more thing: Sibley also illustrates the spacing between primary tips in Common as gradually declining from inner pp to outermost primary, whereas, he illustrates Lesser with fairly even spacing across the entire wingtip. Again, this is further support for the quiz bird being a Lesser. Any comments on that? : This is the main problem with having virtually no text in a guide illustrated by one of the most observant birders I've ever known. Are these things that he illustrates and doesn't mention in text reliable, suggestive, or just artifacts of differing moods when painting from day to day? I believe that he would put very little in that he didn't intend, but who knows? : Tony

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