| Eastern whip-poor-will | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Adult male | |
| Namesake vocalization | |
Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Clade: | Strisores |
| Order: | Caprimulgiformes |
| Family: | Caprimulgidae |
| Genus: | Antrostomus |
| Species: | A. vociferus |
| Binomial name | |
| Antrostomus vociferus (Wilson, 1812) | |
 | |
Breeding Migration Nonbreeding | |
| Synonyms | |
Caprimulgus vociferusWilson, 1812 | |
Theeastern whip-poor-will (Antrostomus vociferus; also called "whip-o-will", "whip o' will", etc.) is a medium-sized (22–27 cm or 8.7–10.6 in) bird within thenightjar family, Caprimulgidae, fromNorth America. The whip-poor-will is commonly heard within its range, but less often seen because of itscamouflage. It is namedonomatopoeically after its song.[3]
This medium-sized nightjar measures 22–27 cm (8+1⁄2–10+1⁄2 in) in length, spans45–50 cm (17+1⁄2–19+1⁄2 in) across the wings and weighs42–69 g (1+1⁄2–2+7⁄16 oz).[4] Further standard measurements are awing chord of14.7 to 16.9 cm (5+13⁄16 to6+5⁄8 in), a tail of10.5 to 12.8 cm (4+1⁄8 to5+1⁄16 in), abill of1 to 1.4 cm (3⁄8 to9⁄16 in) and atarsus of1.5 to 1.8 cm (9⁄16 to11⁄16 in).[5] Adults have mottled plumage: the upperparts are grey, black and brown; the lower parts are grey and black. They have a very short bill and a black throat. Males have a white patch below the throat and white tips on the outer tail feathers; in the female, these parts are light brown.
This bird is sometimes confused[6] with the relatedchuck-will's-widow (Antrostomus carolinensis) which has a similar but lower-pitched and slower call.
Eastern whip-poor-wills breed in deciduous or mixed woods across central and southeasternCanada and the easternUnited States, andmigrate to the southeastern United States and to eastern Mexico and Central America for the winter. These birds forage at night, catching insects in flight, and normally sleep during the day. Eastern whip-poor-wills nest on the ground, in shaded locations among dead leaves, and usually lay two eggs at a time. The bird will commonly remain on the nest unless almost stepped upon.[citation needed]
The whip-poor-will has been split into two species. Eastern populations are now referred to as the eastern whip-poor-will. The disjunct population in southwestern United States and Mexico is now referred to as theMexican whip-poor-will,Antrostomus arizonae. The two populations were split based on range, different vocalizations, different egg coloration, and DNA sequencing showing differentiation.[7]
The diet of an Eastern whip-poor-will mostly consists ofinsects, especiallymoths, alsobeetles,mosquitoes, and many others.[8]
The eastern whip-poor-will is currently in decline, though they remain fairly common.[9] In 2017, the eastern whip-poor-will was uplisted fromleast concern tonear threatened on theIUCN Red List on the basis ofcitizen science observations demonstrating a decline in populations of the eastern whip-poor-will by over 60% between 1970 and 2014.[10] Several reasons for the decline are proposed, such as loss of early successional forest habitat related to fire suppression andhabitat destruction,[9]predation byferalcats anddogs, and poisoning byinsecticides, but the actual causes remain elusive.[11][12]Pesticides and intensified agriculture have led to declines in the flying insect populations that the eastern whip-poor-will depends on. BirdLife International has stated that initiatives like theConservation Reserve Program will be crucial in conserving the species and reversing its decline.[13][14]
Due to its song, the eastern whip-poor-will is the topic of numerous legends. ANew England legend says the whip-poor-will can sense a soul departing, and can capture it as it flees. This is used as a plot device inH. P. Lovecraft's storyThe Dunwich Horror. Lovecraft based this idea on information of local legends given to him by Edith Miniter ofNorth Wilbraham, Massachusetts, when he visited her in 1928. This is likely related to an earlier Native American and general American folk belief that the singing of the birds is a death omen.[15] This is also referred by "Whip-poor-will", a short story byJames Thurber, in which the constant nighttime singing of a whip-poor-will results in maddening insomnia of the protagonist, Mr. Kinstrey, who eventually loses his mind and kills everyone in his house, including himself. The bird also features in "The Runaway Slave at Pilgrim's Point", a poem by the English poetElizabeth Barrett Browning, in which the outcast speaker asks: "Could the whip-poor-will or the cat of the glen/Look into my eyes and be bold?"[16]
It is also frequently used as an auditory symbol of rural America, as inWashington Irving's story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow", or as a plot device. For example,William Faulkner's short story, "Barn Burning", makes several mentions of whip-poor-wills: "and then he found that he had been asleep because he knew it was almost dawn, the night almost over. He could tell that from the whip-poor-wills. They were everywhere now among the dark trees below him, constant and inflectioned and ceaseless, so that, as the instant for giving over to the day birds drew nearer and nearer, there was no interval at all between them."[17]
"The Mountain Whippoorwill" is a poem written byStephen Vincent Benét about a fiddling contest, won by Hillbilly Jim, who refers to his fiddle as a whip-poor-will and identifies the bird with the lonely and poor but vibrant life of themountain people. American poetRobert Frost described the sound of a whip-poor-will in the fourth stanza of his 1915 poem "Ghost House". This is notable in Frost's use of assonance in "The whippoorwill is coming to shout / And hush and cluck and flutter about".[18]
Emily Dickinson wrote "Many a phrase has the English language - / I have heard but one - / Low as the laughter of the Cricket, / Loud, as the Thunder's Tongue - / Murmuring, like old Caspian Choirs, / When the Tide's a'lull - / Saying itself in new inflection - / Like a Whippowil -"[19]
The chorus ofGeorge A. Whiting andWalter Donaldson's song "My Blue Heaven" (1927) begins, "When Whip-poor-wills call and ev'ning is nigh".[20]
In the 1934Frank Capra filmIt Happened One Night, beforeClark Gable's character Peter Warne reveals his name to Ellie Andrews (Claudette Colbert), he famously says to her, "I am the whip-poor-will that cries in the night".[21]
Hank Williams's 1949 songI'm So Lonesome I Could Cry refers to the whip-poor-will's sound in its opening line: "Hear that lonesome whippoorwill, he sounds too blue to fly".[22] The chorus ofAlan Jackson's 1992 singleMidnight in Montgomery makes reference to this lyric: "Just hear that whippoorwill".
In the 1958 movieThunder Road,Keely Smith sings "The Whippoorwill," a song written byRobert Mitchum andDon Raye.[23]
Elton John andBernie Taupin's 1975 song "Philadelphia Freedom" features a flute mimicking the call of the eastern whip-poor-will and includes the lyrics "I like living easy without family ties, till the whippoorwill of freedom zapped me right between the eyes."[24]
The Pennsylvania-based Indie rock bandDr. Dog released their song "Lonesome" on their 2012 albumBe the Void, featuring the passage "I had my fill of the Whippoorwill / When he broke into song I shot him".[25]
The song, "Cockeyed Optimist", sung by Nellie Forbush in Rodger's and Hammerstein'sSouth Pacific, mentions such bird, singing, "But every whip-poor-will / Is selling me a bill/ And telling me it just ain't so!"[26]
In the novelSlapstick byKurt Vonnegut, the narrator hears the call of a whip-poor-will, which the narrator referred to as a child as "The Nocturnal Goatsucker".[27]
In the fifth episode of the Netflix animated seriesThe Midnight Gospel, titled "Annihilation of Joy", the protagonist encounters a talking bird attached to a prisoner. The bird, voiced byJason Louv,[28] introduces itself as a "psychopomp or a whippoorwill" and explains the cycle of death and rebirth experienced by its charge, a prisoner caught in an "existential trap".[29][30]
The whip-poor-will is also featured in the last line of the chorus of the song "Deeper Than the Holler", a song written byPaul Overstreet andDon Schlitz, and recorded by American country music singerRandy Travis, where the singer's love is stated to be "longer than the song of a whippoorwill".
The second verse of the song, "My Home Among the Hills", about the state ofWest Virginia contains the lyrics "Where the moonlit meadows ring with the call of whippoorwills".[31]
The chorus of HARDY's song, "Favorite Country Song", contains the lyrics "Whippoorwills singin' 'bout summertime".[32]
