Last evening was warm and humid in the North County.  I headed out to the Santa Maria Mesa Road ponds well before nightfall to check on LENI activity.  All my previous visits were right at sunset and therefore lighting made decent photos almost impossible (for me anyway).  I got to the middle pond at 7:30 and two Lesser Nighthawks were already hunting the pond.  Lighting was good, my photographic skills, not so much.  Anyway, before I left, I carefully counted at least 15 LENIs at one time at the middle pond.  I saw no other LENIs at the other 2 accessible ponds.  Checklist with a couple of decent photos is attached.

eBird Checklist - 1 Aug 2022 - Santa Maria Mesa Road Ponds - 14 species (+1 other taxa)