How to Identify aCommon Nighthawk
Chordeiles minor · 8.7–9.4 in (22–24 cm)
Male vs. female
Male
Cryptically mottled gray, brown and black with long pointed wings crossed by a bold white bar, and a white throat.
Female
Similar but with a buff throat and no white tail band.
Male photo: Gavin Keefe Schaefer / Wikimedia, CC BY 2.0 · Second photo: Albuttlee at en.wikipedia / Wikimedia, CC BY 2.5
Field marks
- White bar across each long pointed wing
- Erratic, bounding, bat-like flight at dusk
- Tiny bill on a very wide mouth
- Perches lengthwise along a branch, not across it
Similar species
What it sounds like
A nasal, buzzy "peent" given repeatedly in flight, plus a booming roar from diving males.
Behaviour that gives it away
The male dives steeply and pulls up sharply, and air rushing through his wing feathers produces a deep booming roar.
Habitat & range
Open country, forest clearings, gravel roads and flat gravel rooftops in towns.
When you'll see it
A summer visitor that arrives to breed in North America.
What it eats
Flying insects scooped up in a huge gaping mouth.
Did you know?
It is not a hawk and barely nocturnal — it hunts at dusk and dawn, and lays its eggs on bare gravel with no nest at all.
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