Sitting on the patio at twilight there were sleek, black birds overhead, dashing about erratically. In silhouette they resembled accipiters with their long, pointed wings These birds were more slender though, and they moved more like flycatchers or even butterflies. Accipiters like Cooper’s hawks fly in straight lines or in smooth, aerodynamic arcs. This handful of birds seemed like they were chasing insects.

And that’s what Common nighthawks (Cordeiles minor) eat! Flying insects. Lots of them. Nighthawks are classified with Whip-poor-will’s and other Nightjars in the avian family Caprimulgidae in the order Caprimulgiformes. The Latin root “capri-” means “goat” and these are the Goatsuckers.

Why are they called that? It seems they have rather large mouth openings and ancient people believed their nocturnal habits included sucking milk from she-goats. Modern people believe a lot of crazy shit, too.

The nighthawks danced around a bit, darting to-and-for in search of prey. By the time it got dark they were long gone. I guess they need light to see like the rest of us!

Edward Hopper was thinking of night-time predators when he painted his masterpiece:

“Nighthawks” is at the Art Institute of Chicago.