Trying to keep things interesting during the slow summertime of birding, I’ve been visiting some new places. This past weekend while exploring the Three Lakes Wildlife Management Area in Osceola County I discovered a new-to-me bird: the Common Nighthawk.
Actually, it was a pair of Common Nighthawks I stumbled upon during my visit to Three Lakes. The state-run WMA is in a very remote location near Kenansville, but its dirt roads are wide and in good shape. I had stopped my car and turned on the Merlin app to help identify all the birds I was hearing when the Nighthawks flew by.
When one landed on a pine tree branch, it was tough to find. The coloring on their feathers help the Common Nighthawk blend in well. But when they are in flight, they were easy to spot with prominent white bars on their wings as they both glided through the air close to each other.
They’re really interesting birds with an interesting story. According to AllAboutBirds.org, they have one of the longest migration routes in North America – breeding across the U.S. and as far north as the Yukon and Northwest Territories of Canada before flying home to winter South America, as far south as Uruguay and Argentina.
The other thing about Nighthawks – as their name implies – is they hunt mostly as night, looking for insects over cities or sports fields, whose lights attract all sorts of yummy bugs for the birds. They do hunt in the early morning too, but when I saw these two it was after 8:30 a.m.
I guess I got lucky with my uncommon daylight discovery of these Common Nighthawks.
