The Whippoorwill
by
Tom Malone *
(Star Tribune, 8/13/1989)
----- // -----
[ The low-flying
whippoorwill: big-mouth of a summer’s eve ]
Those
lucky enough to hear the cry of the whippoorwill in the summer night never
forget the experience.
Suddenly
from what usually seems an extremely close range, comes a piercing, whistled “whip-poor-Will,”
repeated again and again.
Fifty
to a hundred repetitions are common; the calls are repeated about a second
apart. As Thoreau wrote in 1840:
“The
note of the whip-poor-will, borne over the fields, is the voice with which the
woods and moonlight woo me.”
The
bird usually calls in the evening after sunset, and again in the hours before
dawn. In the middle hours of the night the whippoorwill hunts the flying
insects that comprise its food.
The
bird hunts by flying low to the ground, silently like an owl. It looks like a big moth as it flies. It
simply flies about, its large, open mouth “scooping” insects from the air.
The
whippoorwill is closely related to the nighthawk common to our cities and
towns; like its relative, it has a large mouth, which opens to a point behind
the eyes.
The
cavernous scoop enables it to catch and eat all types of flying, nocturnal
insects, together with moths, beetles, crickets, and caterpillars.
During
the day, the bird roosts on the ground or on a horizontal branch.
It
does not hide; it does not have to. Its protective coloration makes it look
like a clump of leaves or a piece of dead wood. The bird simply sits perfectly
still unless the intruder is going to walk directly over it.
More
than one person has been startled out of his wits by a large brown “moth”
rising directly under his footfall.
The
whippoorwill will also nest on the ground. No nest is built. Instead, the eggs
are laid directly on the ground in the woods.
The
eggs, incubated by the female, hatch in about 20 days. The young birds are
flying and feeding 20 days after birth.
Males
and females look very much alike except for the color of the sides of the tail. The male flashes white and the female buff.
Whippoorwills
are often very tame. They can be closely approached if the observer waits and
moves quietly.
They
love to take “dust baths” and often can be seen doing so on old country dirt
roads.
Interestingly,
the bird’s huge, seemingly black eyes shine red when light is reflected from
them.
Whippoorwills
are locally common throughout the more heavily wooded parts of Minnesota.
They
are most common in the southeast along the Mississippi
River but are also very common through the north central part of
the state.
I
recently found them very common in the woods of Camp Ripley,
north of Little Falls. Their whistled singing was heard throughout the camp;
the soldiers of our state National Guard’s 47th Military Police
company were treated to whippoorwills on a nightly basis!
I
found it delightful, but the more practical members of the company complained
that the “noise” cut into what little sleep time was available.
The
bird is rare in the taiga of northeast Minnesota
and absent from the western part of the state. It winters from the very
southern part of the United States
south into northern South America.
For
some reason, the bird is virtually never seen during migration.
Like
most insect-eaters, whippoorwills will not be with us much longer. Soon they
will leave for the winter. So venture into the summer night, and listen for
them.
You
will know when you hear it, and you will be glad you did.
___________________________________
* Minneapolis
lawyer Tom Malone has loved, studied and watched birds for more than 30 years.
