Any of about 65 species of night-hunting birds. They have wide, bristly mouths for catching flying insects. Their distinctive calls have earned them such names as whippoorwill and church-will's-widow. Some US species are called nighthawks. (Family Caprimulgidae, order Caprimulgiformes.)
The name nighthawk most commonly refers to the Chordeiles species of North America, including
Chordeiles minor which breeds widely as far north as southern Alaska, and migrates south to Argentina.
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