Common Nighthawks On The Move Now, How to See Them!!

Common Nighthawk, male. Males have a white throat, white subterminal primary bar on wings and a white band on the tail. 

Common Nighthawk, female. Females have a buffy throat, smaller white primary bar and no tail band.

Common Nighthawk, male

Common Nighthawk, female

Common Nighthawk, male

Common Nighthawk, male

Common Nighthawk migration is in full swing here in New England. We have gotten good flights before, our previous high count has been 2,202 in one night. We live on a dammed-up section of a river, where the river flows north and nighthawks often follow river valleys on migration. We count from our deck and have been joined by our friends.

Common Nighthawk numbers have been declining in the Northeast so it is very exciting to see them.

This is peak Common Nighthawk migration time, so get out and look. The best time to see them is at the end of the day from about 5 pm to dark.

Here are some tips for seeing migrating Common Nighthawks:

1. Look during the later afternoon to early evening hours, from about 4 pm to 7:30 pm.
2. Look north, as they generally move from north to south.
3. Get comfortable, use a chair if you can, you will be looking for quite a while. Tuck your elbows in, it is less tiring and steadier to hold binos that way.
4. Nighthawks often move along river corridors
5. Note if there is an ant hatch. Nighthawks are attracted to, and eat, dispersing ants who rise up in clouds.
6. Study the photos above, to learn nighthawk shape. Often you will only see distant birds with long pointed wings, flapping rather slowly. When feeding, nighthawks fly erratically. When migrating, they move more directly and may even rise up on a thermal sometimes.

Common Yellowthroats already migrating

Here's a young male Common Yellowthroat warbler in our garden. Look at his lower face and you can see a spot of black. He does not look like the adult male yet, but will when the rest of the black feathers of his bandit-like adult mask grow in. Look closely at Common Yellowthroats you see this fall and look for hints of black on their face, it will help you distinguish the young males from the females.

Young birds like this are newly independent and begin to wander. We are already seeing some warblers on the move here in NH and recently we saw some Chestnut-sided and Black-throated Green warblers migrating through.