Lesser Nighthawk

The Lesser Nighthawk is the characteristic desert nighthawk of the southwestern United States, closely resembling its more widespread relative, the Common Nighthawk, but generally warmer buffy-brown in tone and smaller in size. Like other nightjars, it has cryptic mottled plumage for camouflage and long, pointed wings marked with a bold white or buffy bar. It typically forages lower to the ground and with more fluttering, less erratic flight than the Common Nighthawk, often hunting low over desert flats and washes at dusk.

Key Field Marks

• Smaller and buffier overall than Common Nighthawk
• White or buffy wing bar positioned closer to the wingtip than in Common Nighthawk
• Flight is lower to the ground and more fluttering, less erratic and high-flying
• Voice is a soft, low, trilling or churring sound, quite different from the Common Nighthawk's nasal "peent"

Similar Species

• Common Nighthawk is larger, grayer, has a wing bar set farther from the wingtip, flies higher with more erratic wingbeats, and gives a nasal "peent" call rather than a trill.
• Common Pauraque lacks the long pointed wings and white wing bar and has a distinctive whistled call.

Habitat

Lesser Nighthawks favor open desert lowlands, arid scrub, agricultural edges, and river washes, generally at lower elevations than the Common Nighthawk.

Range

They breed across the desert Southwest, including southern California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, ranging south through Mexico and Central America into South America.

Migration

U.S. and northern Mexican populations migrate south for the winter, with some remaining resident in warmer parts of the range farther south.

Behavior

Lesser Nighthawks are crepuscular and nocturnal, foraging low over open ground at dusk and after dark, often in loose groups where insects are abundant.

Voice

The distinctive call is a soft, low, trilling or churring sound, quite different from the sharp nasal peent of the Common Nighthawk.

Feeding

They feed exclusively on flying insects caught in flight, including moths, beetles, and flying ants, often foraging low over desert vegetation or open water.

Nesting

No nest is built; the female lays eggs directly on bare, gravelly, or sandy ground in open desert habitat, relying on cryptic plumage for camouflage.