Whip-poor-will

Often heard but seldom observed, the Eastern Whip-poor-will chants its name on summer nights in eastern woods. The song may seem to go on endlessly; a patient observer once counted 1,088 whip-poor-wills given rapidly without a break. By day, the bird sleeps on the forest floor or on a horizontal log or branch. This bird and the Mexican Whip-poor-will of the Southwest were considered a single species, the Whip-poor-will, until 2010, when they were split based on DNA and vocalization differences.