Neotropical Migrant Bird Portraits

Whip-poor-will Caprimulgus vociferus Family: Caprimulgidae (Goat suckers)		Description: Dark gray/brown above and below, with fine black spots, corners of tail white in male, buff in female. Nocturnal, rarely seen. Whip-poor-will are active at night. By day they roost on the ground, where they are easily camouflaged against leaf litter and tree bark. Nesting: The Whip-poor-will builds no nest; the female lays her eggs on the forest floor, on dead leaves. She chooses a location where patches of sunlight filter through the trees that help camouflage her against the dead leaves while she sits on, or incubates, her eggs. The average number of eggs she lays in a year (her brood) is 2 eggs. Range: (May - September) Breeds from north-central Saskatchewan and southern Manitoba to southern Quebec and Nova Scotia and south to northern Louisiana and central Georgia. Winters from southern Texas, the Gulf Coast and South Carolina to Central America.
printable field guide compliments of www.neotropicalbirds.org Size: 10 inches Diet: Insects Habitat: Open mixed woods Call: Weak "whip" followed by loud "poor-weell" usually heard at dusk and again at dawn.
© 2003 by Trust for Wildlife. Developed with Knowledge Environments, Inc.