NIGHTHAWKS, POOR-WILLS, ETC.: NIGHTHAWK 343 
Range. —Breeds from Arizona and southwestern Colorado south to mountains of 
Chihuahua and Sonora; winters in South America. 
State Records. —The type specimen of the Western Nighthawk was taken by 
Henry at Fort Webster, New Mexico, and named in his honor. It is one of the 
most widely distributed birds of 
New Mexico during the breeding 
season. It occurs throughout 
the State from the lowest hottest 
valleys, as at Carlsbad, 3,100 
feet (Bailey); Fort Fillmore, 
3,700 feet (Henry); Tularosa, 
5,000 feet (Ligon); Hachita 
(Goldman); (Silver City, 5,800 
feet, June 6, 1918 (Kellogg)!; 
near Taos, 7,200 feet (Bailey); 
Halls Peak, 8,000 feet (Barber); 
Tres Piedras, 8,000 feet (Gaut); 
[on Mount Taylor high mesa 
country, 8,000 feet,June 22,1916 
(Ligon)]; and in the Zuni Moun¬ 
tains, somewhat above 8,000 
feet (Goldman). It is among 
the latest breeders at these alti¬ 
tudes since eggs have been taken 
June 24-25,1903, on the Conchos 
River near Cabra Springs 
(Bailey); July 3, 1892, in the 
Animas Valley near the southern 
New Mexico line (Mearns); July 
5, 1903, Canoncito (Bailey); 
July 8, 1913, near Santa Rosa 
(Ligon); and July 31, 1904, at 
Tres Piedras, where eggs were 
about ready to hatch (Gaut). 
[At LakeBurford in 1918, it was 
common, June 16, when the bulk 
of the breeding birds arrived. On June 17 a number of pairs were seen and 
males were calling and booming excitedly (Wetmore). In the Pecos Valley, June 
16-21, 1918, they were seen all the way between Roswell and Fort Sumner, but 
were common only in the vicinity of Roswell; between Carlsbad and Cimarron, May 
27-June 22, 1924, they were frequently observed, and were common in the Pecos 
Valley and eastward. At Salt Draw, north of Roswell, a nest with two fresh eggs 
was found, May 30, 1920 (Ligon). In northern Santa Fe County they were common, 
nesting over the pinyon flats during the first half of June (Jensen, 1922)J 
After the nesting season and during the fall migration, they range a little higher, 
to 9,400 feet in the Culebra Mountains August 18-25, 1904, occasionally to 11,400 
feet where several were seen August 1, 1904, flying about in the Wheeler Peak 
Amphitheater of the Taos Mountains (Bailey); [over the summit of Lake Peak in 
the Sangre de Cristo Mountains at 12,600 feet (Jensen, 1922).] They all desert the 
State for the winter, beginning their southward journey soon after the middle of 
/ 
From Biological Survey 
Fig. 58. Nighthawk (Chordeiles minor virginianus) 
The wing patches show high in the sky. Note 
the small figure (between the wings) making 
its headlong, booming descent 
