Both farmers and desert dwellers are likely to have seen these birds of summer that feast upon insects as they wing over open spaces across much of the Southwest. Most often encountered at dusk and dawn, these graceful, buoyant fliers spend their winters in Central America and return to our area in April to breed, departing again in late summer or early fall.

The lesser nighthawk is a member of the goatsucker family, sometimes dubbed chupacabra or chotacabra in Mexico, though its supposed habit of stealing milk from goats is mere folklore as its diet consists entirely of insects. Most are aerial insects, such as winged ants, flies, mosquitoes, small beetles, and moths, and usually are captured in flight. The birds have long slender wings with nearly a two-foot span that enable them to swerve and change speed abruptly while pursuing prey.

Their relatively large brown eyes give nighthawks excellent night vision, and their mouth structure resembles a fleshy cup when open, rimmed with bristly feathers that serve to guide insects into the gaping maw. As darkness falls, the birds may fly progressively lower to the ground, skimming the tops of bushes, and they may cover considerable distances over the course of an evening. Bodies of water (including irrigation canals), lighted town plazas, and illuminated billboards along interstates can attract hordes of insects and thus are particularly good spots to watch for nighthawks. Farmers often see good numbers of birds on the days following field irrigation.


When not on the wing these birds are next to impossible to find. Although they roost out in the open during the daytime, either on the ground or on a horizontal tree branch, their mottled brown and buff feathering blends right into the background. Their nests are mere scrapes on the desert floor, sometimes shaded a bit by a creosote bush, and the mother herself typically provides the only shelter for the two eggs.

With such scant cover, the eggs are at risk from a variety of predators, such as coyotes, raccoons, foxes, skunks and snakes, so the mother’s departures to feed herself are brief during the incubation period. The fathers provide most of the food to the youngsters, who develop quickly after hatching, able to begin walking around at two days, fly a little at 21 days, and master sustained flight at just 23 days.

While the lesser nighthawk is the most common member of the family that we are likely to see in our area, there are three other cousins that may be encountered. The common nighthawk, a near-twin with more pointed wings, ranges across the U.S. but here is mostly seen at slightly higher elevations. The common poorwill, so-named for its call that may be heard on calm spring evenings, is a smaller bird with rounded wings that also resides in desert mountains; these birds are known to hibernate in cliff crevices during winter, thus skipping the rigors of migration. And Mexican whip-poor-wills can be found in small numbers in pine-oak forests of the Organ Mountains, where its clear pripp-per-eee calls pierce the night quiet.

Lesser nighthawks are not as often heard as the others, for their lovely trilling vocalizations don’t carry nearly as far, but since they are usually given from a perch, if you do hear the sound, you are apt to be quite close. For some free entertainment on a summer evening, find a recently irrigated field or an irrigation canal, and listen and look for this intriguing bird that shares the nighttime with the owls.


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