Animalia Life

Chordeiles minor
SUBFAMILY
Chordeilinae
TAXONOMY
Caprimulgus minor J.R. Forster, 1771, South Carolina. Nine subspecies.
OTHER COMMON NAMES
English: Nighthawk, American or booming nighthawk; French: Engoulevent d’Amйrique; German: Falkennachtschwalbe; Spanish: Aсapero Yanqui.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
8.7–9.7 in (22–25 cm); 1.4–3.8 oz (40–107 g). Dark brown, buff, grayish white, and cinnamon cryptic coloration. Sexually dimorphic.
DISTRIBUTION
Breeds over much of North and Central America from Canada to Panama; winters in South America from Ecuador to northern Argentina.
HABITAT
Mainly in open habitats, including woodland clearings, prairies, savannas, sand dunes, and cities.
BEHAVIOR
Active from well before dusk until after dawn, often flying high in air. Commonly in flocks outside breeding season, sometimes of up to a thousand birds. Displaying male makes booming sound as air rushes through primaries during aerial dive.
FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET
Catches diet of insects mainly on wing during continuous hawking flight; regularly takes insects that have been attracted to street lights.
REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY
Unlined nest site on ground (or flat roof of building) with clutch of two eggs. Incubation usually by female for a period of 18–20 days. Young have cryptically patterned down, are fed by both parents, and fledge at 25–30 days.
CONSERVATION STATUS
Not threatened.
SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS
More often noticed by humans than most other nightjars in North America because of habit of nesting on flat roofs of buildings in towns and cities and activity and calls during twilight or even daylight.

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