Common nighthawks are summer residents throughout most of North America and we tend to associate them with calm, summer evenings when they hawk for insects above our cities and towns. Easily identified by their halting flight, loud "peents" and prominent white wing patches, they are best observed at dusk; they are also common at sports stadiums where the bright lights concentrate their prey.
But, unlike other nightjars (such as whip-poor-wills and chuck-will's-widows), the common nighthawk is often active during the day, especially after heavy rains send clouds of insects into the air. And though they are generally associated with open woodlands and urban areas, they inhabit a wide variety of landscape. Today, travelling along I-70 in western Kansas, I watched a nighthawk hunt above a crop field and then veer across the highway; it was noon, the sky was clear and the temperature was 85 degrees F.
Common nighthawks roost on low branches, directly on the ground or on flat rooftops. Two eggs are laid on these level surfaces (with little, if any, nest material) and incubated by the female. I suspect today's high noon hunter had a pair of nestlings to feed.
