Guide to North American Birds
Conservation status Numbers appear to have decreased over much of the east in recent decades. Reasons for the decline are not well understood, but it could reflect a general reduction in numbers of large moths and beetles.
Family Nightjars
Habitat Leafy woodlands. Breeds in rich moist woodlands, either deciduous or mixed; seems to avoid purely coniferous forest. Winter habitats are also in wooded areas.
Often heard but seldom observed, the 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 to belong to the same species until recently.

Photo Gallery

Feeding Behavior

Forages at night, especially at dusk and dawn and on moonlit nights. Forages by flying out from a perch in a tree, or in low, continuous flight along the edges of woods and clearings; sometimes by fluttering up from the ground. Captures insects in its wide, gaping mouth and swallows them whole.


Eggs

2. Whitish, marked with brown and gray. Incubation is by both parents (usually more by female), 19-21 days. Young: Cared for by both parents. Adults feed young by regurgitating insects. Age of young at first flight about 20 days. May raise 1 or 2 broods per year; female may lay second clutch while male is still caring for young from first brood.


Young

Cared for by both parents. Adults feed young by regurgitating insects. Age of young at first flight about 20 days. May raise 1 or 2 broods per year; female may lay second clutch while male is still caring for young from first brood.

Diet

Insects. Feeds on night-flying insects, especially moths, also beetles, mosquitoes, and many others.


Nesting

Nesting activity may be timed so that adults are feeding young primarily on nights when moon is more than half full, when moonlight makes foraging easier for them. Male sings at night to defend territory and to attract a mate. Courtship behavior not well known; male approaches female on ground with much head-bobbing, bowing, and sidling about. Nest site is on ground, in shady woods but often near the edge of a clearing, on open soil covered with dead leaves. No nest built, eggs laid on flat ground.

Illustration © David Allen Sibley.
Learn more about these drawings.

Text © Kenn Kaufman, adapted from
Lives of North American Birds

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Migration

Many spend the winter in the southeastern states, in areas where Chuck-will's-widows are resident in summer. Others migrate south to Central America; few occur in the West Indies.

  • All Seasons - Common
  • All Seasons - Uncommon
  • Breeding - Common
  • Breeding - Uncommon
  • Winter - Common
  • Winter - Uncommon
  • Migration - Common
  • Migration - Uncommon

See a fully interactive migration map for this species on the Bird Migration Explorer.

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Songs and Calls

A loud, rhythmic whip-poor-will, repeated over and over, at night.
Audio © Lang Elliott, Bob McGuire, Kevin Colver, Martyn Stewart and others.
Learn more about this sound collection.