Have you ever noticed birds flying around the lights while enjoying your favorite team play on summer evenings? If you are a St. Louis Cardinals fan, I'm sure you have seen them for years.
Nighthawks feed off the buffet of insects gathering around the lights. They inhale them in droves. Streetlights and billboards are more places you may notice these aerial acrobats dining out in cities and suburbs or ballparks.
Watch for them flying just above treetops in the country. Flashing white wing patches and bat-like moves are a few ways to identify them in flight. They've also been called bullbats, mosquito hawks, and goatsuckers.
Nighthawks are perhaps best known for their deep aerial dives, which create a booming sound as air rushes over their wings while pulling out of their dives before reaching the ground. This sounds like the whoosh of a high-speed race car passing by for a brief moment. Just before dawn and at dusk are the best times to catch the action.
More information about nighthawks can be found online at missouriconservation.org.
