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Whip-poor-will

Started by Mudwall Gatewood, June 18, 2012, 15:29:15 PM

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Mudwall Gatewood 3.0

When is the last time anyone heard a Whip-poor-will?  I am interested because I have not heard one in many years.  Are they declining?  Any of you birders know?
"Enjoy every sandwich."  Warren Zevon

flatlander

It's been years since I last heard one.  The last one I specifically remember was in 94 or 95 up at the Wilson Creek Club.  Son-of-a-bitch kept me up all night.

Big J

http://suite101.com/article/whippoorwill-familiar-nightjar-a24139

Article says they have declined 57% in the last forty years and that was back in 2007!

snagaluffaguss

I heard them all the time as a kid.

In high school I stopped hearing them 93-97.

More development, power company started doing a better job keeping the brush and scrub cleared from the high voltage right of ways.

I would go down on those power line right of ways as a kid and pick black berries and sell them to the tourists on their way up to Asheville for 5$ a gallon.

haven't seen black berries growing there for a long time.

and haven't heard the birds.

WRector

#4
I hear them all the time down here in SC during turkey season, as recently as this past spring.  It's awesome sitting in the woods listening to the woods come alive just before dawn and hearing the Whip-poor-wills start up.  Seems like they are the first birds to get going in the mornings.  As for NC and VA, not sure what they are doing up there and I hadn't heard that their numbers were declining. 

The numbers of birds I hear in the mornings hasn't seemed like it has changed, but that is not very scientific.

The big gobblers are just a short while later once the sun breaks the horizon.   -0-
There's a big difference between a dry fly dancing through
a riffle and a weighted fur ball dragging on the bottom.

benben reincarnated

Heard them in the woods growing up in GA, never have heard one in WNC.



blue ridge angler

We have a ton of Chuck-Will's-Widows around here and people call them Whip-Poor-wills..
They do sound similar, although not exactly the same..We used to have a lot of Whip-Poor-Will's too but I don't hear them very often anymore..The Chuck-Will's's were back in full force this spring..

overbrook

Quote from: WRector on June 18, 2012, 15:59:39 PM
I hear them all the time down here in SC

Yup....I was listening to them just the other night.

tomato can

My Grandaddy said, "Time to plant the corn when the whippoorwill sings."  We had them on our farm.   You could really hear 'em down in the pasture.  I don't hear them up here in VA and I should.  Mudwall you ever see a grouse sit up on a rock or log or ol' stump and drum in the spring?  That can get pretty loud too.  I have heard that they will use the same drummin rock/stump/log for generations of grouse.

Mudwall Gatewood 3.0

TC - I don't see many grouse where I hunt.  I used to see them while hunting and even fishing some headwater streams, but no so much now.
I've only killed 2 grouse in my life and eaten 3.  2 while squirrel hunting and 1 Kamikaze flew through our picture window one Sunday morning.

I do miss the sounds of those Whip-poor-wills.

"Enjoy every sandwich."  Warren Zevon

consumnfire1229

We live in the foothills here in Virginia.  On my parents place, they live about 1/2 mile off the main road surrounded by hay fields and an odd 500 number of  acres consisting of private forest land.  You can hear them late in the evening every year.  There may be a decline, but not in these parts...
"Thou shalt know thy waters and be wise about those things upon which thy prey doth feed."  4th Commandment of The Eleven Commandments from the Curtis Creek Manifesto

rbphoto

Was listening to one at the house the other evening.

We hear them all the time down here, but we are out in the country and surrounded by overgrowth and woods.

They are one of my favorite sounds.  Prefer to hear bobwhites, but those are truly few and far between any more.

Raymond
"maybe procrastination is another word for fishing..." ben
"Just butchered my first silk kitty...." Wooly Bugger  January 26, 2018, 12:41:27 PM
You can't land an otter on 7x. Now I know - Dougfish

flatlander

Quote from: rbphoto on June 19, 2012, 07:18:23 AM
Prefer to hear bobwhites, but those are truly few and far between any more.

Raymond

Now that is a sound I truly miss...

MBB

Love the sound of a Whip-poor-will.   I used to hear them all the time as a boy, then I never heard them.

However, I heard one a couple of months ago near my house in Greenville, SC.  Then, I heard another one in Panthertown Valley, North Carolina just a few weeks ago.  Their sound brings back precious memories.

bmeador

Around here we have a bunch!  Just Sat. evening we sat on the front porch and listened to them!  I have seen no decline in the pops. over the years in southside.