Vanishing Whip-Poor-Wills

                                                                                                                          Photo: Paul Cools

When mentioning to friends that I'd never heard the call of a Whip-poor-will, I'd  get the reply more often than not: "Oh yes, I used to hear them but don't remember the last time I did". Last year when I wrote a blog post on the Montague Sandplains  in Western Mass., I had heard about their presence there, but hadn't stayed late enough to actually hear one. I was determined to do so this year.  The Montague Sandplains is a 1500 acre pine barrens habitat of low shrubs, scrub oak and small pine stands, maintained with controlled burning, on a large sand delta formed by melting glaciers more than 10,000 years ago.  I am including a map below for anyone interested in visiting the area.

The species is shrouded in mystery. They are difficult to observe because of being active only at dawn and dusk, or on moon-lit nights.  Because of this crepuscular behavior and their camouflaging plumage little is known about them. They are an edge species, requiring dry woodland for breeding and open spaces for foraging, just what the Montague Sandplains WMA is offering.  When resting, they usually lie lengthwise on the limb of a tree and to the casual observer appear to be part of the tree.  Males establish and defend their breeding territories by calling from their perches on trees, fence posts or the ground. 

In the IUCN , International Union for Conversation of Nature, the Whip-poor-will is listed as a Species of Least Concern, and yet in the just published Second Atlas of Breeding Birds of Vermont their territorial range has shrunk dramatically compared to the first atlas published in 1985.  They were once very common and were widely recognized by their characteristic call  but having lost habitat to agriculture and suburbanization they are now a Species of  Special Concern in Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, New York and Connecticut.

I had arrived at about 7 PM intending, while is was still light, to look for Prairie Warblers, Brown Thrashers and Eastern Towhees which are also common in this kind of habitat, and then wait until dusk for the Whip-poor-wills to appear. However shortly after my arrival three dirt bikers rolled in and started cavorting on the sand road and in the sand pit that formed one corner of the intersection of Plains Rd and the power-line corridor, their racket drowning out all other sounds. Fortunately they drove off just before 8:30 PM when the Whip-poor-wills started their repetitive calls.

I had brought a flashlight to see whether I could get a reflection from their eyes during their foraging flights, but it wasn't yet dark enough. I saw one briefly though as a gray shape flying around a solitary  pine tree. Here is a recording of their calls: 

The spectrogram below shows a small  initial  "whip" followed by a brief pause, and ending with a crescendo "poor WILL"  Each call lasts about a second and usually goes on for many minutes; one bird was once recorded as making 1000 + calls in a row.

The birds iintermittently sally forth from their perches after flying insects, or go after them during continuous aerial feeding flights. Their beaks are tiny but when open, their gape is enormous, wide enough to swallow a large moth tail-end first, as shown in James Audubon's painting below. 

                                                                                                   

Eastern Whip-poor-will distribution in the US

Directions to Montague Sandplains Wildlife Management Area

I placed a marker near the crossroad of Plains Rd (off Turner's Falls Rd) and a wide corridor with tall pylons carrying high voltage power lines. At the intersection a sandpit is shown  in the upper quadrant. The Whip-poor-will calls were recorded from a bird in left-hand quadrant and Prairie Warblers, as well as Eastern Towhees, were heard in all quadrants.

Prairie Warblers  and Eastern Towhees in the Northeast are also declining in numbers probably due to loss of habitat brought on by changes in agriculture and by urbanization. Eastern Towhees and Brown Thrashers, all abundant in this area, prefer dense low shrubs, whereas  Prairie Warblers prefer successional habitat dominated by small trees and scattered shrubs. 

                                      

Happy Birding!

Birding Glacial Montague Sandplains IBA

Shivers were running down my spine. I was standing on the very sand deposited some 10,000 years ago as a delta at the mouth of a melt water stream into a giant ice age lake, glacial Lake Hitchcock. Eventually as the climate warmed the glaciers disappeared and the lake shrunk back into what is now the Connecticut River bed. 

The sand delta forms the heart of the Montague Sandplains IBA. The almost impenetrable thicket of scrub oak, intermingled with pitch pine, covering the plains, forms a haven for several bird species, among them Prairie Warblers, Eastern Towhees, Brown Thrasher, Field Sparrows and Whip-poor-wills. It is a unique habitat also for species of insects and turtles who would be more at home on Cape Cod. 

I had arrived late in the evening and stayed till after dark to hear the Whip-poor-wills call, but no such luck. However from all directions Prairie Warblers were singing. 

For more please see my contribution on Birding is Fun

Happy Birding!

FOY Brown Thrasher (Revised Post*)

I was right on time this morning. I  first heard the Brown Thrasher singing his beautiful melodious and varied song  yesterday at about 7:30 AM behind a shopping center where I do my grocery shopping. I didn't have my camera with me. So this morning I brought it along. As soon as I arrived at the appointed time I heard him singing from his perch on a big pine tree,  and giving me a chance to get a picture before he flew off 10 minutes later.

He arrived about 2 weeks early for our region, the earliest on record for the past 5 years. But then spring arrived early too with lots of warm weather. This morning the air is filled with a joyful noise from a large flock of American Goldfinches by the feeder and the trees around our yard. They are changing into summer plumage.

The goldfinches occupied most of the ports on the feeder but then a female Purple Finch took possession of  a perch and wouldn't budge until she had had her fill. (* I had initially misidentified this as a female Rose-breasted Grosbeak)

A female Yellow-breasted Sapsucker settled down on our Ash tree, a favorite with the sapsuckers. They always look like they are having a bad hair day, but I guess it's good camouflage making them blend in with the tree bark.....
 

 except when they cling to a telephone pole.

.....but of course she didn't stay very long

A Hairy Woodpecker had been working in upper reaches of one of the large trees. Her drumming rang through the yard for much of the morning. She finally flew down to inspect the activity around the feeder.

She must have had something orangey to eat, maybe ingesting some of  the wood from the crab apple tree, much ravaged by woodpecker activity?

I'd been hearing a Red-bellied Woodpecker calling in the neighboring trees and was waiting for him to show himself. They are occasional visitors to my feeder but are usually quite shy. They take flight upon the slightest unfamiliar movement in their periphery. Finally - it was a female - she came down briefly to investigate the feeder, but did not stay very long.

The yard has accumulated much flotsam over the winter, fallen branches, old leaves, and the mess  dogs make.  Here is my husband doing some raking ....

...and our dog Chance  is trying to help by breaking twigs into smaller pieces :-)

It's in the mid 70's, a perfect day to sit on the deck with a glass of iced tea and watch  all the activity in the yard.