(sixmountains.ca photo of common nighthawk on Duncan roof)
Wing and a prayer: common nighthawks choose gravel roof in Duncan as nest site
South American migrant content to raise family alongside humans
It’s called a common nighthawk, but Ser Devlin finds nothing ordinary about the pair nesting on the flat tar-and-gravel roof of the residential building where he lives in the City of Duncan.
“It’s really incredible,” Devlin tells sixmountains.ca during a roof-top visit. “It’s certainly too close for wildlife.
“But she’s made the choice to nest here for the last three years in a row.”
Common nighthawks sport mottled grey, white, buff, and black feathers that make for excellent camouflage.
On this day, the female — known as Dorothy — nests on a dry patch of moss set amongst the gravel next to a wooden boardwalk.
“As you can see, she blends in pretty well,” Devlin says. “If you didn’t know she was there, you’d miss her completely.”
(sixmountains.ca photo; common nighthawk in bottom left corner)
Devlin is a personable 42-year-old administrative assistant — but camera shy compared to Dorothy.
"I like to keep a bit of a low profile," he says.
The first year Devlin became aware of Dorothy she laid two eggs and both chicks fledged.
Two more eggs followed the next year, but only one hatched and successfully fledged.
Dorothy arrived in mid-June this year, from South America, somehow pinpointing the smallest city in Canada by area at two square kilometres.
(Read more on the migration: https://www.birdscanada.org/where-do-all-the-nighthawks-go )
(Migratory routes of common nighthawks; Elly Knight)
Another two eggs soon followed, although one is much larger than the other. “I suspect the smaller egg won’t make it,” Devlin says. “That’s my theory on it.”
All should become clear during hatching in another week or so.
Dorothy remains on her eggs “religiously, all day” — unmoving and without water in the summer heat — before being spelled off by her partner in the evenings, Devlin says.
The male is nameless because “we don’t get as much one-on-one time with him.”
Males make a distinctive booming sound. “He’ll dive bomb and do this big whoosh,” Devlin says. “Then he’ll do low circles around the roof a few times before landing.”
The Cornell Lab of Ornithology in New York explains that male nighthawks make the sound during breeding season by flexing their wings while diving, making air rush through the primary (outer) feathers. “He does this while diving at females during courtship, and while diving at intruders (including humans)," the lab says on-line. "The male may clap his wings when intruders approach the nest.”
Nighthawks don’t build a nest, per se. They lay their eggs on the ground, which makes them susceptible to disturbance, including from mountain bikers and hikers in the Municipal Forest Reserve of North Cowichan — part of BC's endangered coastal Douglas-fir forest.
(Submitted photo of common nighthawk eggs on Mount Richards, North Cowichan)
The incubation period is about 19 days, Devlin has observed, plus 20 to 23 days until fledging.
The roof offers protection from terrestrial predators such as raccoons or cats.
Avian predators are another issue. A great horned owl regularly hunts in a nearby lot and crows are never far away, posing an ethical dilemma for their human guardian.
“I’m a firm believer in letting things live, the circle of life and all that. But, I dunno know, I might stick my neck out for her.”
At times, both adults are away hunting insects and their chicks are left alone. “The babies just sit there and cuddle up with each other,” Devlin says. “As they get more used to their legs, they'll walk around a little bit, maybe an inch or two, but they're not running around at all."
Dorothy seems to accept a certain amount of human activity on the roof.
“I go over to her to take a look and she’ll have her eye open for a sec, just watching me, and then she closes it,” Devlin says.
“She is quite comfortable. I’ve never seen her fly away when anybody is around.”
Still, sixmountains.ca is not revealing the exact location of the building.
Common nighthawks are about the size of a kestrel, but are aerial insectivores, not raptors.
The adult birds are typically distinguished by their bounding flight, squeaky nasal call and white bar near the end of the wings.
(John Gordon photo of common nighthawk in flight)
An urban environment with artificial outdoor light attracts insects.
One of the best places to observe nighthawks is near dusk at the 39 Days of July music festival, where they dip and dive above Duncan’s historic city hall.
Devlin says the residential building in which he lives was built in 1974, one of a dwindling number of flat gravel roofs in the area.
“Very few, and they’re the older buildings,” he says. “You don’t see much like this anymore.”
Common nighthawks are considered a species of “special concern" in Canada.
Andrew Coughlan, an associate director with Birds Canada, told sixmountains.ca Monday that while the species has "declined rapidly in the south, it is still fairly numerous in more northern parts of its range."
The decline is at least partly due to the replacement of gravel roofs with smooth, rubberized or PVC membranes, which, he says, makes Dorothy's nesting success a "great story."
(Recovery strategy: https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/species-risk-public-registry/recovery-strategies/common-nighthawk-chordeiles-minor-2016.html )
Birds Canada cites several potential factors impacting the species, including "habitat loss and alteration, pollution, collisions with vehicles and human-made structures, predation by cats, extreme weather events, and climate change.”
The species begins its long flight back to South America later in the summer.
When these particular nighthawks vacate their Duncan penthouse, they'll leave behind a wistful Devlin to walk an empty roof and ponder the simple question: will he ever see them again?
(To participate in an ongoing survey of common nighthawks, email acoughlan@birdscanada.org.)
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— Larry Pynn, June 29, 2026