I do not know that Common Nighthawks would recognize themselves in the name we’ve given them. Neither hawk nor night bird, the Common Nighthawk is largely crepuscular — most active at dawn and dusk — and rarely, if ever, at night. Nor it is a hawk, belonging, instead, among the Nightjars.
The etymology of a name
The scientific name of the Nighthawk’s genus — Chordeiles — suits it better. According to Merriam-Webster, the word’s origin refers to the bird’s evening call
New Latin, irregular from Greek chordē string of a lyre or harp + deilē afternoon, evening: from its cry at twilight
Wikipedia offers an even more evocative etymology, evoking both the bird’s calls and their buoyant flights.
The genus name Chordeiles is from Ancient Greek khoreia, a dance with music, and deile, “evening”.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the common name “Nighthawk” dates to the early-17th century and to the King James Bible. Then, the phrase likely was a pseudonym for the Eurasian Nightjar. It appears in Leviticus, among a longer list of birds that, for being abominations, shall not be eaten.
And these are they which ye shall have in abomination among the fowls; they shall not be eaten, they are an abomination: the eagle, and the ossifrage, and the ospray,
14 And the vulture, and the kite after his kind;
15 Every raven after his kind;
16 And the owl, and the night hawk, and the cuckow, and the hawk after his kind,
17 And the little owl, and the cormorant, and the great owl,
18 And the swan, and the pelican, and the gier eagle,
19 And the stork, the heron after her kind, and the lapwing, and the bat.
Repeat after me: Nighthawks aren’t hawks!
In the late-18th century, the name was applied to North America’s Nighthawk. According to OED (again), the earliest published use of the name “nighthawk” was in Jonathan Carver’s 1778 book, Travels through the Interior Parts of North America.
Carver miscategorizes the bird, clustering it with hawks. He writes,
The NIGHT HAWK. This Bird is of the hawk species, its bill being crooked, its wings formed for swiftness, and its shape nearly like that of the common hawk; but in size it is considerably less, and in colour rather darker. It is scarcely ever seen but in the evening, when, at the approach of twilight, it flies about, and darts itself in wanton gambols at the head of the belated traveller. Before a thunder-shower these birds are seen at an amazing height in the air assembled together in great numbers, as swallows are observed to do on the same occasion.
A Kernal of Truth
Despite identifying the Nighthawk as a hawk, Carver’s observations are consistent with my own.
I have stood amid Nighthawks making “wanton gambols at the head of the belated” birder. (I wrote about this for the Center for Humans and Nature. You can read that essay, “The Nighthawk’s Trajectory,” here: https://humansandnature.org/the-nighthawks-trajectory/.)
I have also seen great flocks of Nighthawks amid thunderstorms. Sometimes, they arrive as signs of incoming storms. Other times, they chase them. Presumably, the association of birds and storms carries another association — that the water leads to hatches of the bird’s prey (perhaps flying ants) or else causes prey to congregate in areas where Nighthawks might fetch them. I hope to not soon forget the dozens upon dozens of Nighthawks a friend and I saw feed amid a southern Colorado dry thunder storm.
Accordingly, I wrote a haiku for the birds.
dry thunder a spray of nighthawks
Nighthawks in Culture
The meaning of the word “nighthawk” has become ever more expansive over the years. It carries shades of human meanings — to be a predatory person…at night.
The phrase has shed some of its negative connotations, now also simply meaning someone active at night. Though this meaning pre-dates Edward Hopper’s 1942 painting, “Nighthawks,” I suspect we owe the word’s lasting power to Hopper’s singular image.
I’d be remiss not to mention two other peculiar references that this bird’s name, has fed. Tom Wait’s album Nighthawks at the Diner is, no doubt, a nod to Hopper, even if a flock of Nighthawks over a desolate diner would be a site indeed.
And then there is this.
Historically, observers confused the Common Nighthawk with the Eastern Whip-poor-will. More on that in a later post. In the meantime, here’s a post on the Whip-poor-will and the history of its own name:
Featured Photo by vladeb @ https://flic.kr/p/nLR4Lq
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