Common Nighthawk
Superspecies #21
Chordeiles minor Forster

 

 

 

Field Guide IDs:
NG-258; G-182; PE-184; PW-pl 38; AE-pl 275; AW-pl 250; AM(Il)-182


Nest
Location
Nest
Type
Eggs &
Mating System
Dev. &
Parental Care
Primary &
2ndary Diet
..
Foraging
Strategy
NO NEST
F-M
I: 19 DAYS
SEMIPRECOCIAL

2
(1-3)
?
F: 21 DAYS
MF

GROUND
GLEAN

BREEDING:

Open and semiopen habitats esp savanna, grassland, fields, cities and towns. ? broods.

DISPLAYS:

Courtship often at dusk: male calls, circling, hovering or soaring above intended nest site, swoops down with a pronounced hollow "boom," almost crashing near mate. Boom produced by vibrating primaries. Male lands, spreads tail, rocks body, remains upright near passive female; puffs throat, calls, exposing white throat. Aerial display and booming continue throughout nesting.

NEST:

If depression apparent, result of sitting adult. Prefer sandy soil in s; also lays eggs on stump, old robin nest, gravel rooftop.

EGGS:

White/olive, with olive mottling. 1.2" (30 mm).

DIET:

Young fed regurgitant.

CONSERVATION:

Winters throughout S.A. to n Argentina. Blue List 1975-86; reported declining in many parts of range. Became common in cities after introduction of gravel roofs in mid-1800s.

NOTES:

Feeds at dusk, night, and in day. Performs distraction display. Young feed selves by day 25. Largely excluded from desert habitats by Lesser Nighthawk. Interspecifically territorial with Antillean Nighthawk in FL Keys.

STANFORD. NOTES:

ESSAYS:

Blue List; Interspecific Territoriality; Masterbuilders; Nonvocal Sounds; Distraction Displays.

REFERENCES:

Caccamise, 1974; Stevenson et al., 1983.

Except for Stanford Notes, the material in this species treatment is taken, with permission, from The Birder's Handbook (Paul Ehrlich, David Dobkin, & Darryl Wheye, Simon & Schuster, NY. 1988).