Missing Food Shipment Endangers Nighthawk And Other Birds

The following story about a nighthawk was submitted by All Things Wild Rehabilitation in Texas.

It’s been a difficult year for our nonprofit with over 3,000 animals coming in for help, COVID-19, and now delayed shipments of supplies. The worst delay was 10,000 live mealworms that we needed for our birds. The mealworms were shipped on October 4 and should have been received by October 7. By October 28, we had still not received them. The automated post office status report said “shipment is delayed.” Delayed over three weeks and counting, the live worms were surely all dead and no use to the hungry birds.

This delay caused quite a dilemma as to what to feed the birds — especially worrisome was a common nighthawk, a new patient who arrived in rehabilitation badly needing nutritious food. Misnamed “hawks,” nighthawks are not raptors but members of the Night Jar family. These birds spend days sleeping on the forest floor where they are perfectly camouflaged among the dead leaves. At night, they are aerial feeders, catching insects on the wing. They can often be seen swooping around street lights that attract insects.

Our feeding dilemma was resolved when our vet tech realized that we could feed the nighthawk and the other insectivorous birds EmerAid IC Carnivore. Aerial feeders have to be hand-fed because the only food they recognize are flying insects, a condition we can’t simulate in rehabilitation. We are grateful to have a source of good, nutritious food for the birds while shipments are missing.