On Friday night (August 12), a group of four or five Common Nighthawks (Chordeiles minor) joined a few swallows in feeding over my home and neighborhood. It’s always something when this happens — the birds flying relatively low, low enough to get good views (but not low enough for good photos).
The visit likely wasn’t a coincidence. Soon after the birds left, I spotted a few flying insects in my yard. They seem to be one of the nighthawks favored late-summer prey, flying ants, though I’m still working to confirm my tentative i.d.
According to the wonderful resource, Birds of the World (subscription required), a 1940 study of the stomach contents of 87 Nighthawks found that flying ants constituted about 25% of the mass of what the birds ate. Flying ants apparently emerge in late summer and, so, are a critical food source for migrating Nighthawks, not unlike late blooms (and feeders full of sugar water) are for migrating hummingbirds.
We’re in the early days of the Common Nighthawks’ southward migration. In past years, I’ve seen them in great numbers (for a suburban environment) in my neighborhood, encountering flocks of a dozen or two or three feeding over area parks. Here’s hoping this year brings the same.
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