by Kate Evans
Eastern whip-poor-wills were once common in this region. One would hear their repetitive call on summer nights mostly at dusk and just before dawn, but their calls have been absent for a long time.
But early this summer there was the brief sound of a whip-poor-will’s call at dark and also on the following night in nearby woods. Then nothing. I wondered what had happened to the whip-poor-wills and if they were returning.
Research showed that the Eastern whip-poor-will populations had declined over the past 30-45 years due to a variety of reasons that include loss of forest habitat, use of insecticides, predators and declines in flying insect populations. But scientists aren’t really sure about all of the factors that have caused the decline.
Bob Dean, bird expert, birder and charter member of the Potomac Valley Audubon Society, said that the Eastern whip-poor-will population has declined over 60% because of a combination of influences. The most important one is a shortage of food. Whip-poor-wills forage at night and catch flying insects. 
Moths aren’t as common as they used to be. Whip-poor-wills are opportunistic — they will eat other things, but they eat moths mainly, Dean said. He’s seen evidence of whip-poor-wills eating large moths like luna moths, Tussock moths and imperial moths in the woods and thought they may eat gypsy moths.
Dean noted that when an area is sprayed for gypsy moths, it’s not just the gypsy moth larvae that are killed, but other moth larvae as well.
Heavy rains can flood whip-poor-will nests, a forest fire can endanger their nests and a late frost in the spring can kill the eggs if the whip-poor-will leaves the nest for too long, Dean said.
Of the whip-poor-will’s decline, Dean said that a lot of small woodlots have been eliminated by business and commercial development. A lot of big woods have been splintered by roadways. Whip-poor-wills require an expansive amount of forest but with an opening, roadway or field clearing when they’re ready to call out. 
Whip-poor-wills habitat requirements are similar to other bird species, Dean said.
Birds must have food, water and security. If whip-poor-wills have lost a lot of that, then other bird species have lost it as well as they share the same habitats.
Still common in some places
While the Eastern whip-poor-will is considered near threatened, the bird is still fairly common in some areas. Dean said there has been a lot of whip-poor-wills in some areas of our region. They’re fairly common in the Sleepy Creek Wildlife Management Area and the George Washington National Forest.
“In the right kind of habitat they can be very common,” Dean said.
photo by Wil Hershberger
On a road he drives just before dawn he saw 22 whip-poor-wills along the road in a 3.2-mile stretch.
“That’s when they really get vocal-just before dawn-and also at dusk when it’s getting dark,” Dean said.
Their call
The bird’s call is the “whip-poor-will” that repeats over and over again, but they have other vocalizations, like a brief clucking sound before their call that can be barely audible, Dean said.
When whip-poor-wills are very close, you can hear that extra note, like a brief, abrupt chuck, before each opening of their call. They make some really odd trills that aren’t audible at any distance.
“You have to be real close to hear,” Dean said.
Features, nesting
Eastern whip-poor-wills aren’t a large bird. They weigh around two ounces and are around 9.7 inches long — close to a robin’s size, Dean said. They can live up to 13 to 15 years in the wild.
Their colors — brown, gray and black on their upper body and gray and black on the lower parts — are a natural camouflage that protects them as they make their nests in leaves on the ground.
Dean said that one time he found a whip-poor-will nest. He saw a whip-poor-will fly up from the ground and land on a stump. Dean went over to the area where he saw the bird and discovered two eggs in the leaves on the ground.
“They push the leaves down with their body and sit on the eggs,” Dean said.
Once their young have hatched, they follow mama around, he said. They don’t spend much time in the nest.
Chuck-will’s-widow
The chuck-will’s-widow is primarily a southern bird, but they had one by Camp Frame for 12 years in a row, Dean said. It is a similar species to the Eastern whip-poor-will that is sometimes confused with the whip-poor-will.
The chuck-will’s-widow’s song is different from the whip-poor-will’s with different intonation. It is a lower-pitched, slower call. The chuck-will’s-widow is a larger, heavier bird, Dean said.
A summer bird
The Eastern whip-poor-will is only here in the summer. They arrive in late April and start singing right away, Dean said. In the spring of 2023 Dean was turkey hunting for two days in a row in George Washington National Forest and said he didn’t hear anything. On the morning of the third day Dean said he heard 13 whip-poor-wills in the same area.
A lot of whip-poor-wills will arrive at the same time. They make the flight when the conditions are good, Dean said.
Most Eastern whip-poor-wills overwinter in Mexico or northern Central America, Dean noted. They leave in mid-August to early September. Only some choose to migrate long-distance.
Bird watching, birding
Dean has been a bird watcher and a birder for many years. Being a birder involves the whole scope-learning birds’ nesting and feeding behaviors, hearing their calls, observing and understanding their behavior and physical attributes- “it all ties together.”
Dean has been leading bird walks for the Potomac Valley Audubon Society, and has also taught some birding classes for them. He has also led three or four projects of catching and banding birds. Since he retired 10 years ago, Dean said he’s devoted a lot more time to banding birds. He was a carpenter for 40 years.
His birding history
Dean got into birding with some friends when he was in his early 20s. A professor that taught the Field Natural History class at Shepherd University was an ornithologist and spent a significant amount of time on birds in class. He taught them that sound was every bit as important in identifying birds as physical appearance.
Banding
Dean said he got into banding birds to help document things like a bird’s age, size and other data to recapture it later and compare data. Transmitters are placed on the birds to track them. He bands a lot of American kestrels, owls, and a small number of larger hawks. At a birding station at Dolly Sod he bands mostly songbirds-warblers.
Some friends do bird banding, too. Dean had 48 hours of banding time this spring. Dean said he’s never banded a whip-poor-will.
“It’s one bird I’ve missed. I would love to,” he said.
Growing pastime
During the COVID pandemic, birding became the fastest growing outdoor activity in the country and continues to be so. Dean has read a few stories where people said “that birding was a godsend for them-it changed their lives.”
Dean has enjoyed birding all his life and mentioned two helpful resources. E-bird is an app from Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology where people can submit lists of birds they’ve encountered in different locations. It will show where Eastern whip-poor-wills or chuck-will’s-widows have been sighted recently.
Another app, Merlin, is a recording device with an AI backup. It has 1000s of recordings of each individual bird species vocalizations and will record them as it listens to an area. It will show what birds are there and give a list of where they are, Dean said.
There are a lot more birding resources than ever before, Dean said. Before, a field guide and a pair of binoculars was pretty much it.
References
The whip-poor-will has long been featured in legends, literature, movies, poetry and songs.
Hank Williams opening line in “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” wails “Hear that lonesome whip-poor-will, he sounds too blue to cry.” The song “My Blue Heaven” enchants with the phrase “When whip-poor-wills call and ev’ning is nigh…”.
Poems of Emily Dickinson, Stephen Vincent Benét and Robert Frost and writings of William Faulkner and Washington Irving feature mentions of whip-poor-wills as do a number of other works. The bird has inspired many artists with its mournful call.
