OT Whip poor wills

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grouse
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OT Whip poor wills

Post by grouse »

I was turkey hunting Tuesday morning (didn't have a gobbler within calling distance) when I heard a whippoorwill call twice. I thought I was hearing things. 20 years ago, there so many of them that it was hard to hear a turkey in the pre-dawn hours of a spring morning. Rather quickly, they have disappeared. Something has happened that has drastically reduced their numbers to where I haven't heard one in years until this week.

Do you have whippoorwills where you hunt?
axiom
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AJ01
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Re: OT Whip poor wills

Post by AJ01 »

Whip-poor-will also known as a Nightjar. Never really a large population of them here in East Texas. However, as a kid, I did hear them from time to time.
Use to hear them and their cousin the Chuck-will's-widow, another pretty cool and rare night bird with it's on distinct song.

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Eastern whip-poor-wills breed in deciduous or mixed woods across central and southeastern Canada and the eastern United States, and migrate to the southeastern United States and to eastern Mexico and Central America for the winter. These birds forage at night, catching insects in flight, and normally sleep during the day. Eastern whip-poor-wills nest on the ground, in shaded locations among dead leaves, and usually lay two eggs at a time. The bird will commonly remain on the nest unless almost stepped upon.

The eastern whip-poor-will is becoming locally rare. Several reasons for the decline are proposed, such as loss of early successional forest habitat, habitat destruction, predation by feral cats and dogs, Fire Ants and feral Hogs and poisoning by insecticides, but the actual causes remain elusive. Even with local populations endangered, the species as a whole is not considered globally threatened due to its large range.

The whip-poor-will has been split into two species. Eastern populations are now referred to as the eastern whip-poor-will. The disjunct population in southwestern United States and Mexico is now referred to as the Mexican whip-poor-will, Antrostomus arizonae. The two populations were split based on range, different vocalizations, different egg coloration, and DNA sequencing showing differentiation.

Thanks, Grouse, for sharing this encounter with a pretty rare bird of the night!! :thumbup:
Hope you hear them again!
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papabear1
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Re: OT Whip poor wills

Post by papabear1 »

Actually heard one Tue. morning
1rst one i heard in a long time.
aka, chuck willow wills in my area. :)

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Last edited by papabear1 on Sat Apr 29, 2023 7:49 am, edited 1 time in total.
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DuckHunt
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Re: OT Whip poor wills

Post by DuckHunt »

I'm not sure if I've ever heard a whip-poor-will in this area. I'll have to listen a bit more intently this fall.

I did hear a night sound last hunting season that I set out to identify because I heard it frequently. I would normally hear it on the way to/from my stand in the dark. For the life of me I couldn't figure out what was making the sound. I searched for animal sounds that I may not be familiar with and drew a blank. Then I started searching through all of the night bird sounds. I took a while but my daughter finally found the culprit.

The sound we were hearing what the whinny of a Eastern Screech Owl. It's not a loud or particularly scary sound at night, but it bugged me that I didn't know what was making it. Now I know.
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Robinsons Rebel
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Re: OT Whip poor wills

Post by Robinsons Rebel »

Used to love hearing Bob white quails. Haven't heard those in a long time too.
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AJ01
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Re: OT Whip poor wills

Post by AJ01 »

Robinsons Rebel wrote:
Fri Apr 28, 2023 6:43 pm
Used to love hearing Bob white quails. Haven't heard those in a long time too.
If y'all have Fire Ants and Hogs, that's why you have no Quail. They wreak havoc on any ground nesting bird.
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AJ01
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Re: OT Whip poor wills

Post by AJ01 »

When I was a kid growing up in East Texas you would see these by the hundreds. I always thought they were a very colorful bird. They always showed up in the fall. Migration, I guess. Then they stopped.
I learned later on that they were called Cedar Wax Wings. Don't ask me why they are called that, but it's got to be because they feed on the seeds cedar's produce.
Then 2 years ago now, I saw my 1st Wax Wings in more than 40 years. I have 2 large Cedar trees on my place. I was gonna cut them down, until these guys should up. Now the Cedars will stay.

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Boo
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Re: OT Whip poor wills

Post by Boo »

That is one of many birds we hear along with black birds, geese, starlings, chickadees, robins and piliated woodpeckers, killdeer and more. We have a lot of birds here! But I have to put on my hearing aids to hear them! :lol: :lol: :lol:
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grouse
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Re: OT Whip poor wills

Post by grouse »

AJ01 wrote:
Sat Apr 29, 2023 9:18 am
When I was a kid growing up in East Texas you would see these by the hundreds. I always thought they were a very colorful bird. They always showed up in the fall. Migration, I guess. Then they stopped.
I learned later on that they were called Cedar Wax Wings. Don't ask me why they are called that, but it's got to be because they feed on the seeds cedar's produce.
Then 2 years ago now, I saw my 1st Wax Wings in more than 40 years. I have 2 large Cedar trees on my place. I was gonna cut them down, until these guys should up. Now the Cedars will stay.

Image
My parents had a couple of red cedars (really a species of juniper - not a true cedar) and cedar waxwings used to descend on them and eat the little bluish gray berries in the fall. I don't remember seeing one for a long time. They may still be common and I just don't see them, but I think that their numbers have dropped.

Pesticides are always suspected when bird numbers decline, but at least around here, these birds don't seem like insect feeders. Besides, many species that feed heavily on insects seem to be doing fine. Something does seem to be negatively affecting quite a few species of birds though.
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