This is bird note.

The flight call of the common night hawk vividly evokes a warm summer evening.

Swooping and diving through the air on its long slender wings, the night hawk emerges

at dusk to chase down aerial insects.

Jerks and twists making sudden choppy shifts of direction to snatch its prey.

But the common night hawk is not really a hawk at all.

It's more closely related to the nocturnal night jars, such as the whipperwills of

eastern North America.

Night hawks and night jars have short bills that open wide so they can vacuum up their

insect prey as they fly along.

When night hawks travel to North America in spring from Brazil and other South American

countries where they spend the winter, they're about the size of a robin but have much

longer wings that stretch out like two dark boomerangs propelling their erratic flight.

Watch for common night hawks overhead just after sunset.

With any luck, you might see the male's territorial display as it dives sharply toward

the earth, only to pull up at the last second, making this amazing sound.

That's the wind rushing through the male night hawk's wing feathers.

This acrobatic night hawk really knows how to impress his potential mate.

For bird note, I'm Michael Stein.