Common Nighthawk – Oregon Conservation Strategy

Overview

Species Common Name Common Nighthawk
Species Scientific Name Chordeiles minor
State Listing Status Sensitive

Ecoregions

Columbia Plateau

The Columbia Plateau ecoregion was shaped by cataclysmic floods and large deposits of wind-borne silt and sand earlier in its geological history. It is dominated by a rolling landscape of arid lowlands dissected by several important rivers, and extends from the eastern slopes of the Cascades Mountains, south and east from the Columbia River to the Blue Mountains.

Klamath Mountains

The Klamath Mountains ecoregion covers much of southwestern Oregon, including the Klamath Mountains, Siskiyou Mountains, the interior valleys and foothills between these and the Cascade Range, and the Rogue and Umpqua river valleys. Several popular and scenic rivers run through the ecoregion, including the Umpqua, Rogue, Illinois, and Applegate rivers. Historically, this ecoregion is known …

Willamette Valley

The Willamette Valley ecoregion is bounded on the west by the Coast Range and on the east by the Cascade Range. This long mostly level alluvial plain has some scattered areas of low basalt, and contrasts with productive farmland and large urban areas. It has the fastest-growing human population in the state resulting in challenges due to land-use changes.

Special needs

Common Nighthawks use gravel bars and other sparsely-vegetated grasslands or forest clearings for nesting. As aerial insectivores, they require an adequate prey base.

Limiting factors

Loss and degradation of nesting habitat are primary threats to Common Nighthawks. Changes in hydrology due to hydropower dams and wildfire suppression have contributed to habitat losses. Increased predation pressure by corvids, gulls, and house cats as well as reductions in aerial insect abundance have also adversely affected this species.

Data gaps

Inventory gravel bars along large rivers for nesting birds.

Conservation actions

Maintain sparsely-vegetated grassland patches. Restore natural disturbance regimes. Restore riparian and wetland habitat to support the insect prey base of nighthawks.

Key reference or plan

The Willamette Valley Landowner's Guide to Creating Habitat for Grassland Birds