Bird
Common Nighthawk
Chordeiles minor
A summer resident that nests in Virginia. Found in all 133 counties and cities, across 32 habitats.
- Here
- Summer and on migration
- Nesting
- Nests here
- Range
- All 133 counties and cities
- Habitats
- 32
At a glance
- Group
- Birds
- Here
- Summer and on migration
- Nesting
- Nests here
- Range
- All 133 counties and cities
- Habitats
- 32
- Habitat models
- Summer
Where it lives
The places its habitat model includes. It is not found everywhere a habitat occurs.
Habitats in Virginia 32
Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.
1 of 32
Cliffs, ledges and rocky summits
Glades, barrens and outcrops on limestone
Forests and open woodlands on dry ridges and slopes, often oak or pine.
Granite and other acidic rock outcrops
Bare or thin-soil rock on granite, gneiss, sandstone, quartzite and similar acidic rock, including granite flatrocks and domes.
Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground
Ground opened by people: roadsides, old fields, pastures, fencerows and lots.
Steep, sun-baked slopes of loose shale with sparse oaks and Virginia pine and their own endemic wildflowers. Linked only where the source names shale barrens; calcareous shale stays with the limestone glades.
Streams, rivers and their banks
Coastal tidal marshes (salinity not stated)
Tidal marshes of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts where the source does not say whether the water is fresh, brackish or salt. A stated salinity files the marsh under freshwater tidal marshes or salt and brackish marshes instead.
Depression ponds and limesinks
Shallow ponds in Coastal Plain depressions, such as limesinks and the ponds in some Carolina bays, that rise and fall with the seasons.
Disturbed and introduced wetlands
Wet ground taken over by weedy or introduced plants after disturbance, such as common reed, Chinese tallow or tamarisk stands; the upland counterpart is roadsides, fields and disturbed ground.
Floodplain and bottomland forests
Forests on low ground beside rivers and streams that flood from time to time.
Marshes along tidal rivers where the water is fresh but rises and falls with the tide.
Flat, poorly drained uplands and terraces with oaks, sweetgum and sometimes loblolly pine, wet in winter and dry in summer, but neither a floodplain nor a swamp.
Salt-pruned forests and shrub thickets behind coastal dunes.
Forests between dry and moist, often oak-hickory on slopes.
Wet, open, peaty mountain wetlands fed by seepage, often with sphagnum moss.
Salt and brackish open water of sounds, bays and estuaries, with the mud and sand flats and seagrass beds that tides cover and uncover; the vegetated marsh is salt and brackish marshes.
Tree plantations and managed pine
Planted or intensively managed stands of pine or hardwoods grown for timber; a land use rather than a natural community.
Other habitats in its models (189)
Land cover, or classes with no habitat page in Virginia.
- Developed, Low Intensity Summer.
- Developed, Medium Intensity Summer.
- Developed, High Intensity Summer.
- Quarries, Mines, Gravel Pits and Oil Wells Summer.
- Open Water (Aquaculture) Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Barren Land Summer.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Beach Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Unconsolidated Shore (Lake/River/Pond) Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Unconsolidated Shore Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Upper Texas Coast Beach Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Louisiana Beach Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Florida Panhandle Beach Vegetation Summer.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Sea Island Beach Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Southwest Florida Beach Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Texas Coastal Bend Beach Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Central Interior Calcareous Cliff and Talus Summer.
- Central Interior Acidic Cliff and Talus Summer.
- North-Central Appalachian Circumneutral Cliff and Talus Summer.
- Southern Interior Acid Cliff Summer.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Dry Chalk Bluff Summer.
- Southern Appalachian Rocky Summit Summer.
- Southern Appalachian Granitic Dome Summer.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Limestone Forest Summer, beside its main habitat.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Loess Plain Oak-Hickory Upland - Hardwood Modifier Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Northeastern Interior Dry Oak Forest-Hardwood Modifier Summer, beside its main habitat.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Loess Plain Oak-Hickory Upland - Juniper Modifier Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Northeastern Interior Dry Oak Forest - Mixed Modifier Summer, beside its main habitat.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Black Belt Calcareous Prairie and Woodland - Herbaceous Modifier Summer.
- Ozark-Ouachita Dry-Mesic Oak Forest Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Southern Interior Low Plateau Dry-Mesic Oak Forest Summer, beside its main habitat.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Dry Upland Hardwood Forest Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Crosstimbers Oak Forest and Woodland Summer, beside its main habitat.
- North-Central Interior Dry-Mesic Oak Forest and Woodland Summer, beside its main habitat.
- North-Central Interior Dry Oak Forest and Woodland Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Ouachita Montane Oak Forest Summer, beside its main habitat.
- North-Central Interior Beech-Maple Forest Summer, beside its main habitat.
- North-Central Interior Maple-Basswood Forest Summer, beside its main habitat.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Loess Bluff Forest Summer, beside its main habitat.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Loess Bluff Forest Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Southern Coastal Plain Dry Upland Hardwood Forest Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Southwest Florida Coastal Strand and Maritime Hammock Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Central and South Texas Coastal Fringe Forest and Woodland Summer, beside its main habitat.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Chenier and Upper Texas Coastal Fringe Forest and Woodland Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Mississippi River Alluvial Plain Dry-Mesic Loess Slope Forest Summer, beside its main habitat.
- East-Central Texas Plains Post Oak Savanna and Woodland Summer, beside its main habitat.
- East-Central Texas Plains Riparian Forest Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Southern Coastal Plain Oak Dome and Hammock Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Ozark-Ouachita Dry Oak Woodland Summer, beside its main habitat.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Maritime Forest Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Lower Mississippi River Dune Woodland and Forest Summer.
- Edwards Plateau Limestone Savanna and Woodland Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Mississippi Delta Maritime Forest Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Western Great Plains Wooded Draw and Ravine Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Southern Crowley's Ridge Mesic Loess Slope Forest Summer, beside its main habitat.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Mesic Hardwood Forest Summer, beside its main habitat.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Mesic Hardwood Forest Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Ozark-Ouachita Mesic Hardwood Forest Summer, beside its main habitat.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Mesic Slope Forest Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Maritime Forest Summer, beside its main habitat.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Interior Shortleaf Pine-Oak Forest - Hardwood Modifier Summer, beside its main habitat.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Black Belt Calcareous Prairie and Woodland - Woodland Modifier Summer.
- Northeastern Interior Dry Oak Forest - Virginia/Pitch Pine Modifier Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Southern Piedmont Dry Oak-(Pine) Forest - Loblolly Pine Modifier Summer, beside its main habitat.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Dry Upland Hardwood Forest - Offsite Pine Modifier Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Allegheny-Cumberland Dry Oak Forest and Woodland - Pine Modifier Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Southern Ridge and Valley Dry Calcareous Forest - Pine modifier Summer, beside its main habitat.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Interior Shortleaf Pine-Oak Forest - Mixed Modifier Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Southern Piedmont Dry Oak-(Pine) Forest - Mixed Modifier Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Southern Piedmont Dry Oak-Heath Forest - Mixed Modifier Summer, beside its main habitat.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Upland Longleaf Pine Forest and Woodland Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Southeastern Interior Longleaf Pine Woodland Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Central Interior Highlands Dry Acidic Glade and Barrens Summer.
- Ozark-Ouachita Shortleaf Pine-Oak Forest and Woodland Summer.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Pine-Hardwood Forest Summer, beside its main habitat.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Sandhill Oak and Shortleaf Pine Forest and Woodland Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Northern Crowley's Ridge Sand Forest Summer, beside its main habitat.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Interior Upland Longleaf Pine Woodland - Offsite Hardwood Modifier Summer.
- Florida Longleaf Pine Sandhill - Open Understory Modifier Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Florida Longleaf Pine Sandhill - Scrub/Shrub Understory Modifier Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Fall-Line Sandhills Longleaf Pine Woodland - Loblolly Modifier Summer.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Fall-line Sandhills Longleaf Pine Woodland - Open Understory Modifier Summer.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Fall-line Sandhills Longleaf Pine Woodland - Scrub/Shrub Understory Modifier Summer.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Interior Upland Longleaf Pine Woodland - Loblolly Modifier Summer, beside its main habitat.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Interior Upland Longleaf Pine Woodland - Open Understory Modifier Summer.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Interior Upland Longleaf Pine Woodland - Scrub/Shrub Modifier Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Upland Longleaf Pine Woodland Summer.
- Northeastern Interior Pine Barrens Summer.
- East-Central Texas Plains Pine Forest and Woodland Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Ozark-Ouachita Shortleaf Pine-Bluestem Woodland Summer.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Fall-line Sandhills Longleaf Pine Woodland - Offsite Hardwood Modifier Summer.
- Florida Peninsula Inland Scrub Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Tamaulipan Mixed Deciduous Thornscrub Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Tamaulipan Mesquite Upland Scrub Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Tamaulipan Calcareous Thornscrub Summer, beside its main habitat.
- North-Central Interior Oak Savanna Summer, beside its main habitat.
- North-Central Oak Barrens Summer.
- Southern Piedmont Glade and Barrens Summer.
- Nashville Basin Limestone Glade Summer.
- Central Appalachian Alkaline Glade and Woodland Summer.
- Central Interior Highlands Calcareous Glade and Barrens Summer.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Catahoula Barrens Summer.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Nepheline Syenite Glade Summer.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Xeric River Dune Summer.
- Western Great Plains Mesquite Woodland and Shrubland Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Eastern Highland Rim Prairie and Barrens - Dry Modifier Summer.
- Central Mixedgrass Prairie Summer.
- North-Central Interior Sand and Gravel Tallgrass Prairie Summer.
- Arkansas Valley Prairie and Woodland Summer.
- Central Tallgrass Prairie Summer.
- Southern Blackland Tallgrass Prairie Summer.
- Southeastern Great Plains Tallgrass Prairie Summer.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Calcareous Prairie Summer.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Calcareous Prairie Summer.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Jackson Prairie and Woodland Summer.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Dune and Maritime Grassland Summer.
- Southwest Florida Dune and Coastal Grassland Summer.
- Texas-Louisiana Coastal Prairie Summer.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Dune and Coastal Grassland Summer.
- Central and Upper Texas Coast Dune and Coastal Grassland Summer.
- Harvested Forest - Grass/Forb Regeneration Summer.
- Recently Burned Grassland Summer.
- Recently Burned Shrubland Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Introduced Upland Vegetation - Treed Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Introduced Upland Vegetation - Forbland Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Introduced Upland Vegetation - Annual Grassland Summer.
- Introduced Upland Vegetation - Perennial Grassland Summer.
- Modified/Managed Southern Tall Grassland Summer.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Indian River Lagoon Tidal Marsh Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Mississippi Sound Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Florida Big Bend Salt-Brackish Tidal Marsh Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Taxodium Modifier Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Bay/Gum Modifier Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Pine Modifier Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Nupea Modifier Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Clethra Modifier Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Clay-Based Carolina Bay Herbaceous Wetland Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Southern Coastal Plain Seepage Swamp and Baygall Summer, beside its main habitat.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Seepage Swamp and Baygall Summer, beside its main habitat.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Tidal Wooded Swamp Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Central Interior and Appalachian Shrub-Herbaceous Wetland Systems Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Floridian Highlands Freshwater Marsh Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Central Florida Herbaceous Seep Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Florida Big Bend Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Summer, beside its main habitat.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Near-Coast Large River Swamp Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Southern Coastal Plain Herbaceous Seepage Bog Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Clay-Based Carolina Bay Forested Wetland Summer, beside its main habitat.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Savanna and Wet Prairie Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Texas Saline Coastal Prairie Summer.
- Eastern Great Plains Wet Meadow, Prairie, and Marsh Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Lower Mississippi River Bottomland Depressions - Forest Modifier Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Cypress Dome Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Central Florida Herbaceous Pondshore Summer, beside its main habitat.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Depression Pondshore Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Mississippi River Bottomland Depression Summer, beside its main habitat.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Large River Floodplain Forest - Forest Modifier Summer, beside its main habitat.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Large River Floodplain Forest - Herbaceous Modifier Summer, beside its main habitat.
- South-Central Interior Large Floodplain - Herbaceous Modifier Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Eastern Great Plains Floodplain Systems Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Tamaulipan Riparian Systems Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Mississippi River Riparian Forest Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Cumberland Riverscour Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Mississippi River Low Floodplain (Bottomland) Forest Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Southern Coastal Plain Hydric Hammock Summer, beside its main habitat.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Small Stream and River Forest Summer, beside its main habitat.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Large River Floodplain Forest Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Small Blackwater River Floodplain Forest Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Red River Large Floodplain Forest Summer, beside its main habitat.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Small Stream and River Floodplain Forest Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Southern Coastal Plain Blackwater River Floodplain Forest Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Texas-Louisiana Coastal Prairie Slough Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Mississippi River Floodplain and Riparian Forest Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Ozark-Ouachita Riparian Summer, beside its main habitat.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Jackson Plain Dry Flatwoods - Open Understory Modifier Summer.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Near-Coast Pine Flatwoods - Offsite Hardwood Modifier Summer, beside its main habitat.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Near-Coast Pine Flatwoods - Open Understory Modifier Summer, beside its main habitat.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Near-Coast Pine Flatwoods - Scrub/Shrub Understory Modifier Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Wet Pine Savanna and Flatwoods Summer, beside its main habitat.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Wet Longleaf Pine Savanna and Flatwoods Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Central Florida Pine Flatwoods Summer, beside its main habitat.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Near-Coast Pine Flatwoods Summer, beside its main habitat.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Loblolly-Hardwood Flatwoods Summer, beside its main habitat.
- South-Central Interior / Upper Coastal Plain Wet Flatwoods Summer, beside its main habitat.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Pine-Hardwood Flatwoods Summer.
- North-Central Interior Wet Flatwoods Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Lower Mississippi River Flatwoods Summer, beside its main habitat.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Nonriverine Wet Hardwood Flatwoods Summer, beside its main habitat.
Seasons in Virginia
- Migratory: does not nest here, in 8 of 133 counties and cities.
- Summer: nests here, in 132 of 133 counties and cities.
Also found in this habitat
Plants 1306
Plants named in NatureServe descriptions of these habitats that grow in Virginia. Shared habitat, not food.
- Red MapleAcer rubrum
- Mountain LaurelKalmia latifolia
- Flowering DogwoodBenthamidia florida
- Pignut HickoryCarya glabra
- Virginia CreeperParthenocissus quinquefolia
- White OakQuercus alba
- White AshFraxinus americana
- TuliptreeLiriodendron tulipifera
- American BeechFagus grandifolia
- SourwoodOxydendrum arboreum
- Loblolly PinePinus taeda
- Virginia PinePinus virginiana
- Chestnut OakQuercus montana
- Mockernut HickoryCarya tomentosa
- SweetgumLiquidambar styraciflua
- Poverty OatgrassDanthonia spicata
- Black HuckleberryGaylussacia baccata
- Northern SpicebushLindera benzoin
- BlackgumNyssa sylvatica
- Christmas FernPolystichum acrostichoides
- Sun-facing ConeflowerRudbeckia heliopsidis
- Hillside BlueberryVaccinium pallidum
- American GinsengPanax quinquefolius
- Southern Red OakQuercus falcata
Wildlife 265
Other animals whose habitat models include the same habitats in Virginia. Not sighting records.
- Swamp SparrowMelospiza georgiana
- Barred OwlStrix varia
- Black-billed CuckooCoccyzus erythropthalmus
- Black-capped ChickadeePoecile atricapillus
- Eastern BluebirdSialia sialis
- Golden-winged WarblerVermivora chrysoptera
- Long-eared OwlAsio otus
- MallardAnas platyrhynchos
- Orchard OrioleIcterus spurius
- OvenbirdSeiurus aurocapilla
- Savannah SparrowPasserculus sandwichensis
- VeeryCatharus fuscescens
- White-breasted NuthatchSitta carolinensis
- Acadian FlycatcherEmpidonax virescens
- American CootFulica americana
- American PipitAnthus rubescens
- Blue-headed VireoVireo solitarius
- Blue-winged WarblerVermivora pinus
- Boat-tailed GrackleQuiscalus major
- Broad-winged HawkButeo platypterus
- CanvasbackAythya valisineria
- Chuck-will's-widowCaprimulgus carolinensis
- Magnolia WarblerDendroica magnolia
- Northern Saw-whet OwlAegolius acadicus
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NatureServe Explorer, CC BY 4.0. USGS Gap Analysis Project habitat models.
Sources
- USGS Gap Analysis Project habitat models (2001)
- USGS GAP summer habitat model for Common Nighthawk
- USGS Gap Analysis Project range maps (2001), modeled by watershed; migratory gives no dates
- NatureServe Explorer (CC BY 4.0), habitat names
- US Census TIGER/Line counties
- Names follow the USGS Gap Analysis Project (2001)