Whipporwills

[Devildog]

What has happened to all the whipporwills? Man I used to here them all night long when I was younger.
____________________________________________________
Take care all, Jim

1951 John Deere B (poppin johnny)
Semper Fidelis

 

[TerryinMD]

Became Whipporwents.... /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

Sorry couldn't resist!!! I don't ever remember hearing any - ever. What part of the country do they habitate?

 

[Charlie_Iliff]

Terry:
As recently as a couple of years ago, I heard them all summer in Maryland - Severn River near Annapolis. Not this summer.

Charlie Iliff

 

[Bird]

I've sometimes wondered whether it's just because I don't get outside as much late at night. I used to hear them all the time when I was a kid in southern Oklahoma, but have only heard them one night here and that was over a year ago.

Bird

 

[TerryinMD]

I live just outside Sharpsburg, MD (Antitem Battlefield) along the Potomac River. We are surrounded by cattle farms and National Parks. We have all of the typical night noises: crickets, katydids, cicadaes, owls, etc. But no whipporwills.

Do the whipporwills have a specific habitat? Geez, we have lots of other wildlife. Bluebirds, Baltimore Orioles (not the baseball team either...), Goldfinches, Pilated and Downy Woodpeckers, you name it. But, alas and alec, no whipporwills...

 

[teherzog]

They must have moved south, here in central North Carolina it's a toss-up who can make more noise at dusk, Whipporwills or Bob Whites.
Tom H

 

[Devildog]

Tom, I very seldom hear them here in the blueridge mountains anymore but there are plenty of bob whites, I have just started researching this to see how to get them back in the area. If anyone knows of or sees a site I would really apprietiate it/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif
__________________________________________________
Take care all, Jim

1951 John Deere B (poppin johnny)
Semper Fidelis

 

[Tdog]

We hear them regularly here [SE Louisiana].

My daughter was in town a few months ago & I got her up just before dawn one day to see the space station pass overhead. We saw it clearly, but what struck her as much, were the whipporill calls that played as background music to the sight overhead.

 

[kerr]

Ever tried to sleep outside when one roost over yer tent?HOLE-E-COW! Maybe the grasshoppers eat em all.

 

[GlueGuy]

The Whip-poor-will is considered to be a "bird in jeapardy" due to the loss of habitat. It was "blue-listed" in 1980-81, then upgraded to "special concern" in 1982 when the population seemed to be stabilized. It was again blue-listed in 1986. My reference was written in 1992, so I don't have any recent information.

The Whip-poor-will nests in lowland, moist deciduous forests and/or mixed deciduous/coniferous woodlands or montane pine-oak woodlands. The bird does not build a nest, but lays eggs on well-drained ground near the edge of a wood or in open woodland. The depression around the eggs is not dug, but merely a consequence of the nesting adult sitting on the eggs.

The reasons for the decline is considered to be primarily habitat fragmentation and loss, combined with the susceptibility of ground nesting birds to predation.

The GlueGuy

 

[beenthere]

I imagine a healthy raccoon population has something to do with the decline of the whipporwill, if it nests like that on the ground.

 

[Bird]

GlueGuy, we have very very few quail anymore when there used to be lots of them. I've heard a theory that it's because they nest on the ground and the fire ants get any babies that hatch. Maybe the same is true of the whip-poor-will.

Bird

 

[Devildog]

I agree with beenthere on the racoon population, We have a bunch coming up on our back deck,eating the cats food, Since the pelts dont bring any money they really dont have any preditors. We use to hunt them back in the 70's. Just wondering if there is a book out there that can help me in what foods or anything to put out back of the house to try and get them back? Thanks all.
____________________________________________________
Take care, Jim


1951 John Deere B (poppin johnny)
Semper Fidelis

 

[scruffy]

Bird, thats a very good observation ! Never thought of that, but knowing what the fire ants are capable of, I would go along with that assessment! They sure can stop a good sized tortoise!

 

[GlueGuy]

Well, the over-population of racoons is largely due to the racoon being pretty "opportunistic", and getting into pet food like that. That does a couple of things; 1-The racoon population gets larger than the land would normally support, 2-The racoons predate on other critters more because there are more of them.

Of course it's all a lot more complicated than I can articulate in a couple of sentences, but the whip-poor-wills did pretty well until we drained the swamp (so to speak), but it's happening all over the country. There are several other ground nesting birds that are endangered in other places.

We have tons of California Quail here, they usually run around in groups of a dozen or so. Every now and then you'll see a smaller group; I guess it's because a Bobcat or Coyote had a mini-feast.

The GlueGuy

 

[TWINKLE_TOES]

GlueGuy,
<font color=blue>racoon being pretty "opportunistic" </font color=blue>

Smart to. I was fixin a hog wire fence yesterday and right next to me the dogs tree'd a Coon. I think he was comming back to go thru the fence where it was down. That rascal very carefully climbed from tree to tree until he was on one across the fence. He came down and strolled slowly away laughing his butt off at those barking dogs. He knew darned well those dogs could'nt get thru that fence.

Al

 

[Anonymous Poster]

We have whipporwills here in southern Indiana, lots of them. We hear them in the early summer and they can get really loud. My wife hates them because they keep her awake at night, but I don't have very good hearing so they don't bother me. We've heard them every year for the 4 years we've lived here.