Nighthawks are ten New World species of nightjar in the family Caprimulgidae. They have short bills and generally lack the elongated rictal bristles that are present in other nightjars. They also tend to be less nocturnal than other nightjars and can be observed feeding at dawn and at dusk.[
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Discovery
It is believed that the term "nighthawk", first recorded in the King James Bible of 1611, was originally a local name in England for the European nightjar.
Fossil records indicate that specimens later identified to be the common nighthawks ( Chordeiles minor) excavated in the south-western United States could be traced back as far as 400,000 years (during the Pleistocene), indicating that the subfamily has been a component of New World ecology since then.
Taxonomy
The nightjar family Caprimulgidae has been traditionally divided into two subfamilies, Chordeilinae containing the nighthawks in four genera, and Caprimulginae containing all the remaining species.
Beginning in 2010 molecular phylogenetic studies have found that the nacunda nighthawk in the monotypic genus Podager was embedded with members of the genus Chordeiles and that the three remaining genera were not closely related to one another making the subfamily Chordeilinae non-monophyletic.
Species
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| | Nyctiprogne Bonaparte, 1857 |
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Band-tailed nighthawk, Nyctiprogne leucopyga
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Plain-tailed nighthawk, Nyctiprogne vielliardi
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| | Lurocalis John Cassin, 1851 |
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Rufous-bellied nighthawk Lurocalis rufiventris
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Short-tailed nighthawk, Lurocalis semitorquatus
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| | Chordeiles William Swainson, 1832 |
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Nacunda nighthawk, Chordeiles nacunda
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Antillean nighthawk, Chordeiles gundlachii
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Lesser nighthawk, Chordeiles acutipennis
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Common nighthawk, Chordeiles minor
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Least nighthawk, Chordeiles pusillus
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Sand-colored nighthawk, Chordeiles rupestris
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