Common Nighthawk

Chordeiles minor

Only delivers after dark with erratic swooping flights. Spooky but reliable.

Population: ~23 million mature individuals (2019 est.), declining ~1.8%/year since 1970 (~15% decline over three generations)
Habitat: Highly adaptable open-country nightjar: forests, grasslands, prairies, sagebrush, savannah, coastal sand dunes/beaches, burned or logged forest clearings, rock outcrops, and urban areas (including flat gravel rooftops), from sea level up to roughly 2,500-3,000 m elevation
Fun fact: Despite its name, the Common Nighthawk isn't a hawk at all but a member of the nightjar family, and males perform a dramatic "booming" courtship dive in which air rushing through their wingtip feathers produces a sudden low, bull-like sound.
Range: Breeds across most of North America (from southeastern Alaska and Canada south through the U.S. into Central America); full migrant wintering in South America, chiefly Argentina
Diet: Aerial insectivore, catching flying insects (moths, beetles, wasps, flying ants, mayflies, caddisflies, crickets, grasshoppers) on the wing at dawn and dusk, often around artificial lights
Size: 0.23 m
Wingspan: 0.55 m
Lifespan: 9 years

More Speed Demons