 Breeding evidence |
 Relative abundance |
 Probability of observation |
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Click on plot to view table of mean abundance
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Number of squares
Long-term BBS trends
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-2.21 (-3.09 - -1.33)|
Mean abundance (number of birds detected per 5 min. point count) and percentage of squares occupied by region Bird Conservation Regions [abund. plot]
[%squares plot]
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Atlas Results
Common Nighthawks were observed in 547 squares spread unevenly across the province. South of the boreal forest, Common Nighthawks were most likely to be encountered in the arid southwest where there are large tracts of short-grass native vegetation and along waterways, becoming scarce in most of the Aspen Parkland. In the boreal and taiga forests they were more widespread, found in areas with open ground for nesting (e.g., recent burns). Breeding was difficult to confirm for this cryptic species, with only 11 squares reporting confirmations.
Excerpts Adapted from the Birds of Saskatchewan:
The Common Nighthawk is not a hawk at all but is named for its habit of "hawking? flying insects (Brigham et al. 1998), and it is active at dawn and dusk, not at night. It breeds from Yukon and Labrador south to Panama, winters as far south as northern Argentina, and has one of the longest north-south migration distances of any North American species (Poulin, Grindal et al. 1996).
Common Nighthawks nest in a wide range of open, sparsely vegetated habitats: rocky outcrops, sandy ridges, and recent burns in the north; dune complexes, native prairie, river breaks, and badlands in the south. The species initially adapted well to artificial habitats, nesting in recently logged land in the north and for many decades in built-up urban areas in the south; gravel roads are commonly used for roosting (Poulin et al. 1999, Fisher et al. 2004).
The Common Nighthawk remains a fairly common summer resident in northern Saskatchewan, especially in sandy areas, and in ranchland in the southwest, but it is now uncommon to rare in much of the south, particularly in cities.
Original text by R. Mark Brigham. Text adapted by Daniel J. Sawatzky
Read more about the Common Nighthawk in the Birds of Saskatchewan here.
Recommended citation: Latremouille, L. M. 2025. Common Nighthawk in Latremouille, L. M., S. L. Van Wilgenburg, C. B. Jardine, D. Lepage, A. R. Couturier, D. Evans, D. Iles, and K. L. Drake (eds.). 2025. The Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Saskatchewan, 2017-2021. Birds Canada. Saskatoon, Saskatchewan https://sk.birdatlas.ca/accounts/speciesaccount.jsp?sp=CONI&lang=en [09 Nov 2025]
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