16 May 2024
When I was a kid in the 1960s common nighthawks (Chordeiles minor) were so common that they attracted my notice and inspired my love for birds. In the late 1970s many flew above my neighborhood on summer nights, hawking moths over the Magee Field ballpark lights. In the 1990s their population began a steep decline and by the late 2000s I noticed it in my neighborhood. This year I haven’t seen a nighthawk yet. Their decline has gotten worse in the last 20 years.
Nighthawks are nightjars and they are all in trouble including whip-poor-wills and chuck-wills-widow.
How many nighthawks are left? Where are they now?
You can help answer these questions by participating in the 2024 Nightjar Survey conducted by the Center for Conservation Biology(*).
The survey window for the entire continental US opened yesterday, running from 15 May to 30 May.
Interestingly you only have to count nighthawks by the light of the moon because they call more often when the moon is shining. The next full moon is 23 May, right in the middle of the survey period.
Check out the survey instructions PDF here or on their website at nightjars.org. (*)Update on 18 May: The nightjars.org website is temporarily unreachable.
Read more about the decline of nighthawks in this vintage article from 2009.
p.s. I participated in the nightjar survey with Michelle Kienholz in 2018. The maximum number we counted at any one stop was only two.
See survey results from all years here.
Saw one two weeks ago in Frick Park about an hour before sunset, then another sighting a couple days later near Forbes and Murray.
I hear them all the time by West Penn Hospital — will have to keep an eye out.
Hearing one now, in fact — it’s funny, I’ve been hearing them for years but only recently, with the aid of Merlin, did I discover what was making that squawk.
I heard a nighthawk calling near Edgewood Towne Center last night around 10 o’clock. First one I’ve heard this year.
I too am fascinated by nightjars. Attempted to go to the nightjars.org website but the web page didn’t show up. Any suggestions?
Holy cow, Denise! Their website is gone!