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The common nighthawk, sometimes called a bullbat, is a medium-sized slender bird. It is crepuscular or nocturnal and can be hard to spot during the day due to its cryptic grey, buff, and black plumage. It has short legs, long-pointed wings, with a white patch about two-thirds of the way down, that extend beyond its notched tail.
They have flattened heads, short necks, and big eyes, and usually only the tip of the bill is visible, which belies the massiveness of its mouth.
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Common nighthawks hunt on the wing at dusk. The prefer flying insects and will also drink on the wing by flying low over the surface of water.
Common nighthawks occur across most of North America. They can be seen in the air over towns and cities and inhabit open country including forest clearings, farmland, pine woods, savanna, and grasslands.
They are a long-distant migrant travelling thousands of miles to winter in South America, and will often migrate in flocks of hundreds or even thousands of birds.
2 Responses
Hi just had a walk through an old airfield near Stockport at dusk and was surprised when a bird went over my head flying very fast and jigging from side to side , the wings made a very distinctive “wamp wamp” sound which was the first thing that attracted my attention, soon after that 2 or 3 appeared accompanied by shrill or night pitched call. Never seen these birds before but looking at , and hearing the calls on some videos that I later watched I would say they were night hawks. Would welcome some feedback as most of my research states they are not common in the UK. Has anyone else seen these birds., cheers NWT.
A bird certainly very similar to this spent the night on our bedroom windowsill in Bolton, Greater Manchester, a couple of weeks ago.
I thought at first it was a strangely coloured pigeon.
It appeared to be very reluctant to fly off, but eventually did so.