ID Keys: Mottled gray and brown body, white tail corners (male),
buff tail corners (female), rounded wingtips in flight.
The Whip-poor-will is heard more often than seen, as it chants
it's whip-poor-will in rapid succession, often for long periods of
time. During daylight hours, they sleep motionless on the forest floor,
and can be very difficult to spot because of their mottled camouflaged
feathering. Probably the easiest way to spot a bird in the daytime is
if the nest is approached too closely, which often prompts the parent to hover
in place while investigating the intruder. There are slight but distinct
differences in plumage and voice between eastern and western populations in
North America, and there is some who classify the two as different species.
Habitat
Prefers
deciduous to mixed forests.
Diet
Insects, primarily night-flying insects.
Behavior
Nocturnal forager, although much of its
foraging is done near dawn and dusk, or under the light of a nearly full
moon. Captures insects by flying out from a perch and snagging them in
mid-air, or by catching insects while in continuous flight.
Summers throughout most of the eastern
U.S., extreme southeastern Canada, and locally in the Southwestern U.S.
Winters in the extreme southeastern U.S., Mexico, and Central America.
