Whippoorwills?

[Boll Weevil]

I'm so looking forward to spring and turkey season that I was actually whistling my very best whippoorwill impersonation today while separating recyclables . And it occurred to me…seems like I hear somewhat fewer than when I was a kid. Anyone else notice fewer? Or for some reason maybe they just whistle less these days?

 

[MickThompson]

Whippoorwills live in young forest. Our forests continue to age out of good habitat

 

[the deerslayer]

Definitely notice less whippoorwills around than there used to be.

 

[JhnDeereMan]

Have any of you guys heard the old saying that you will have the first frost 6 months after hearing your first whippoorwill of the year.

 

[Wrangler95]

I dont hear many but on the road to my hunting spot before daylight I see some in the road!Also,I dont see as many fireflies and June Bugs as I did as a kid years ago!

 

[MickThompson]

I dont hear many but on the road to my hunting spot before daylight I see some in the road!Also,I dont see as many fireflies and June Bugs as I did as a kid years ago!

I've noticed the same. I chalk that up to everyone spraying their yards now.

 

[hillbillyfab]

Have any of you guys heard the old saying that you will have the first frost 6 months after hearing your first whippoorwill of the year.

I've heard something similar; it was the first frost of the year would be approximately 30 days after the last whippoorwill was heard. I want to say we had a thread on here years back about this topic. Seems like someone had marked down the dates trying to confirm.

 

[MrJim43]

Just another thing from the past missing as it used to be. Layed in bed many a nite at home as a kid and gone to sleep listing to the Whippoorwills. See a few fire flies now in the summer and I lost my thread to tied to the june bugs leg. The simple thing of life........

 

[th88]

My favorite non-turkey bird sound each spring!

 

[JCDEERMAN]

There are plenty around here on our place

 

[JW01]

I have heard when you hear the first whipporwill of the year that your safe to plant corn

 

[DayDay]

“WHAT’S HAPPENED TO THE WHIPPOORWILL?”

Anyone who has camped out in East Texas has probably had this experience: You’ve spent the evening sitting around the campfire after a satisfying dinner. A nice gentle breeze cools the evening air as you settle down for a night of blissful sleep. Then, it starts - “Whip-poor-will...

www.easttexaspress.com

The Eastern Whip-poor will is becoming rare. Several reasons have been proposed by experts, such as habitat destruction, predation by feral cats, dogs, and hogs. Some even blame the overuse of insecticides. So, no one really knows the true reason for its decline.

 

[Willysman]

Not only the Whipporwill but other songbirds as well. Used to be in the mountains turkey hunting and couldn't hear a turkey gobbling for the birds singing. Good old days.

 

[SteveJ]

I never heard them around the house I grew up in but when I moved to the house I'm in now, I hear them a lot now. I love hearing them. Ain't nothing like all the night sounds in the Spring and summer!

 

[JN]

We have chucks wills widows around our place which sound vary similar to a whipporwill. It is neat to hear them start calling and hearing others up on the mountain behind the house answer back or they try to over call them. They are not fun to listen to when they decide to set up in the tree just outside your bedroom window. Have to go and hit them with a spot light to get them to fly to a different tree.

 

[megalomaniac]

They moved off to wherever the meadowlarks have gone.

 

[poorhunter]

My scardy-cat 6 year old cannot and I mean CANNOT sleep with the window open in the spring/summer because of those things. She's terrified of them, and I can't get her to not be afraid of them. We have no shortage of them at all at our place.

 

[PalsPal]

Hear them a lot on a WMA I hunt.

I also see several along the gravel road as I'm driving in. Those orange eyes could be spooky if you didn't know what they were.

 

[tellico4x4]

Still got plenty of them at our place in Wayne Co.

 

[AT Hiker]

My scardy-cat 6 year old cannot and I mean CANNOT sleep with the window open in the spring/summer because of those things. She's terrified of them, and I can't get her to not be afraid of them. We have no shortage of them at all at our place.

On a backpacking trip about 10 years ago I had a sleepless night because of them. I had to be in the middle of some breeding ritual or something, it was horrible. I can sympathize with her.