As the first hint of autumn penetrates the heat of summer, common nighthawks prepare for their long journey to South America. Dedicated insectivores, they are early fall and late spring migrants, taking no chance that a sudden blast of winter will annihilate their prey.
By late August, their numbers increase in the evening sky, circling southward before summer fades from temperate latitudes. Their exodus will gain momentum through mid September as their annual parade extends across the southern U.S., Mexico and Central America, bound for the tropics. If conditions permit, a few stragglers may linger into early October, snaring prey over sports stadiums where moths and other insects are drawn to the lights.
After a winter in the balmy rainforests of South America, the nighthawks will begin to head north in April, reversing their autumn journey and reaching the American Heartland by early May. Nesting on the ground in open woodlands or on flat roofs in urban areas, they will raise their young just in time to take them on a great adventure to distant landscapes.
