North of Queens, Long Island, was a small area of gravel left by a steam shovel used in excavating for a railroad which was not finished. The stones were entirely surrounded by woods and the oasis was practically invisible except from above. For ten years a pair of NIGHTHAWKS used this spot for a home and when a boy I often ate my lunch while the anxious birds shot their arrow bodies at me.
Nighthawks are more diurnal than other members of the family and are frequently awing long before the Whippoorwills' "warble." Spring migration is casual but the southern trip is made in flocks. The clans gather toward the latter part of August or early September and discuss plans and food, in wild nosedives, sideslips and loops. One interesting feature of the mass meeting is that the entire assemblage will suddenly decide to head north. Often I have seen hundreds head up our valley. This change of course is probably pursuit of an insect strata.
Their most remarkable aerial performance is the well known high dive from a height of several hundred feet to a few feet above earth objects, when they reascend with erratic short tacks and repeat the dizzy swoop. The air rushing thru pinions produces a strong musical hum. There are many records where pairs nested on gravel-colored flat city roofs.
North America from southern Yukon and central Canada south to northern parts of Gulf States, west to edge of Great Plains.