[3] Bat hawks also show very rapid ingestion rates, taking on average 6 seconds for the prey to reach the stomach after capture.

A large gape allows the hawks to feed extremely rapidly, often with multiple captures per hunting bout.

[7] The crepuscular habits, large gape and in-flight manoeuvrability makes the bat hawk well adapted for its choice of prey hunting.

This ecological niche is highly exploited by bat hawks, making their competition with other diurnal raptors minimal.

[10] The genus name is from Greek: μαχαιρα makhaira meaning knife; and ῥαμφος rhamphos, bill.

The specific epithet alcinus means like an auk, from Linnaeus' genus Alca, which is also a reference to the bat hawk's thin bill.

In 1960 Deignan pointed out that Bonaparte has priority, but in 1979 Amadon claimed that Macheiramphus alcinus is an abandoned name.

Brooke and Clancey note that the preservation of a junior synonym requires a special ruling from the ICZN that Amadon didn't obtain; whilst Dickinson argues that Deignan's resurrection of the name in 1960 should stand because it predates the first edition of the Code in 1961.