Features

Nighthawk summer

ESCANABA -- Upper Michigan has an invisible air force patrolling the summer sky.

They zoom, dive bomb, and attack at dusk and in the twilight hours.

Hardly anyone notices them.

Hardly anyone hears their peent-peent cries as they zero in on their prey. But everyone benefits greatly from their diligent work.

Nighthawks are aerodynamic soldiers of the night sky. They eliminate tons of insects from the air.

Most of the day this brave bird rests roosting on a limb or in fields, roadsides, gravelly roof tops or on Stoney ledges.

As the sun starts to sink into the western sky, this saucer-eyed pilot wakes up. He takes off!

Then an amazing sky dance commences. The nighthawks have pointed wings with white arm bands. They weave, bob and dive in the sky devouring the enemy.

Nighthawks are at home in open areas, above farmlands, waterways, and above the buggy big cities.

They nest on the ground in rocky or gravely places. Their brown, grey and beige mottled feathers blend in well with the earth.

Both parents feed thee young and very soon, they're up and flying!

Streetlights draw moths, beetles and other insects into the warm night air. The nighthawks take advantage of this and wipe out many bugs.

But summers are short in the U.P. By the end of August, the nighthawks call to each other. They gather in flocks and are some of the first birds to migrate back to South America.

It's a bittersweet time of the year, the Fair is nearly over, schools are ready to start and the nighthawks are getting ready to leave.

If you get a chance to go outside in the early evening hours. Pull up your favorite lawn chair. Already the sun is starting to set earlier and earlier.

Watch the goldenrod and the sunflowers bobbing in the breeze and look up and see the nighthawks as they prepare for another long journey. Salute the nighthawks and thank them for their bug patrol!