Common Nighthawk
Chordeiles minor

Conservation status | Declining seriously in numbers in many parts of North America. Causes may include changes in land use and overuse of pesticides. In some areas, nighthawks nesting on gravel roofs have been targeted by increasing urban populations of crows, which eat the eggs. |
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Family | Nightjars |
Habitat | Open country in general; often seen in the air over cities and towns. Inhabits any kind of open or semi-open terrain, including clearings in forest, open pine woods, prairie country, farmland, suburbs and city centers. |
Photo Gallery
Feeding Behavior
Forages most actively near dusk and dawn, also during the day and at night, perhaps especially on moonlit nights. Forages mostly in flight, scooping up flying insects in its wide, gaping mouth. Will feed around bright lights at night, taking the insects attracted there. May rarely take insects from the ground.
Eggs
2, rarely 1-3. Whitish to pale buff or gray, heavily spotted with brown. Incubation is mostly by female, about 19 days. Incubating bird may shift position during the day so that the sun is always at her back. Young: Both parents care for young, feeding them regurgitated insects. Age of young at first flight is about 21 days.
Young
Both parents care for young, feeding them regurgitated insects. Age of young at first flight is about 21 days.
Diet
Insects. Feeds mainly on flying insects, including beetles, moths, grasshoppers, and many others. Will feed heavily on swarms of winged ants or termites.
Nesting
In male's courtship display flight, his wingbeats become even more stiff and choppy as he circles and hovers high in the air, calling repeatedly; then he goes into a steep dive, with a rushing or "booming" sound made by air passing through wing feathers at bottom of dive. Landing near female, he spreads his tail, rocks back and forth, and calls. Nest site is on ground or bare open soil, often in a sandy place; also on gravel roofs, sometimes on top of a stump or other raised object. No nest built, eggs laid on flat surface.
Illustration © David Allen Sibley.
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Text © Kenn Kaufman, adapted from
Lives of North American Birds
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Migration
A long-distance migrant, wintering mostly in South America. Often migrates in flocks, sometimes numbering in the hundreds.

- All Seasons - Common
- All Seasons - Uncommon
- Breeding - Common
- Breeding - Uncommon
- Winter - Common
- Winter - Uncommon
- Migration - Common
- Migration - Uncommon
See a fully interactive migration map for this species on the Bird Migration Explorer.
Learn moreSongs and Calls
A loud nasal call, peent or pee-yah, heard primarily at dusk.Learn more about this sound collection.
How Climate Change Will Reshape the Range of the Common Nighthawk
Audubon’s scientists have used 140 million bird observations and sophisticated climate models to project how climate change will affect this bird’s range in the future.
Zoom in to see how this species’s current range will shift, expand, and contract under increased global temperatures.
Climate threats facing the Common Nighthawk
Choose a temperature scenario below to see which threats will affect this species as warming increases. The same climate change-driven threats that put birds at risk will affect other wildlife and people, too.