How to Identify a Whippoorwill

Tip 1 - Eastern Whip-poor-will

Learn how to identify Eastern Whip-poor-will, its life history, cool facts, sounds and calls, and watch videos. Made famous in folk songs, poems, and literature for their endless chanting on summer nights, Eastern Whip-poor-wills are easy to hear but hard to see. Their brindled plumage blends perfectly with the gray-brown leaf litter of the open forests where they breed and roost. At dawn and dusk, and on moonlit nights, they sally out from perches to sweep up insects in their cavernous mouths. These common birds are on the decline in parts of their range as open forests are converted to suburbs or agriculture.
Tags: Eastern Whip-poor-will, bird, birds, watching, identification, life history, nesting, behavior, habitat, feeding, songs, calls, videos, photographs, conservation

Tip 2 - How to Identify a Whippoorwill | eHow

Century-old folklore predicted if a whippoorwill called once, a young lady wouldn't get married for a year, but if it called twice, she'd marry soon. Some people believed a woman could wish for marriage if she heard a whippoorwill song. While this bird's appearance isn't outstanding, its "WHIP-poor-WEEA" is the stuff of which legends are spun,...

Tip 3 - Whip-poor-wills or Whippoorwills

Nightjars The Whip-poor-will or whippoorwill (Caprimulgus vociferus) is a medium-sized nightjar that occurs from Canada south to Central America. It has been named for their calls that sounds l

Tip 4 - Finding nightjars - BirdWatching

Tips and tactics for finding hard-to-see but easy-to-hear nightjars this year