Lunch & Learn Series: Shining a Light on Nighthawk Conservation

Elly Knight joined HMANA for the May 2024 Lunch and Learn where she spoke about her Common Nighthawk research. The ground-nesting Common Nighthawk is one of North America’s most widely distributed bird species and yet it remains one of the least understood, thanks in part to its nocturnal habits. Unfortunately, the Common Nighthawk is also declining across much of its range, with many causes potentially available for the decline of this long-distance migrant. Elly discussed how emerging research from across the annual cycle and community science are providing first steps towards the conservation of this enigmatic species.

Elly is an applied ecologist interested in how environmental variation across temporal and spatial scales affects the ecology and population trends of wide-ranging species. She is currently a Quantitative Ecologist with the Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute and Boreal Avian Modelling Project at the University of Alberta. Elly has been studying Common Nighthawks across the continent for over a decade, including for her PhD and as former Program Manager of the Canadian Nightjar Survey.