Pages

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Whip-poor-will Serenade

“On certain occasions, an inherent symmetry falls into place like the intermeshing gears of an old-time pocket watch—perfect alignment where all things are connected and work together, moving over the water, the land, permeating the air. It’s an overall sense of balance, of past and present, flowing energy followed by calm…”
--Stephen Lyn Bales

Last night, just as I was about to call it a night, a whip-poor-will began to sing right outside my window. Oh, my heart! It was only a couple of months ago that I was searching for reference photos and laboring over a sketch of this elusive nocturnal bird, a bird that I have never seen and whose song I had not heard since childhood, a bird whose numbers have declined by 57% in the past forty years.

Whip-poor-wills arrive in Tennessee around the first of April, spending their days roosting on tree limbs or on the forest floor and their nights hunting insects on the fly with large wide open mouths aided by long whiskers. They lay their eggs in leaf litter on the ground in late April with incubation lasting 19-20 days. Amazingly, these parents coordinate egg-laying with the moon cycle so they have the best moonlight while feeding their brood.You may wonder how these birds survive with such vulnerable habits. The secret is camouflage. You would be more likely to have heart-stopping fright as this bird flushes from beneath your step, then to ever see one at roost among the leaves.

Did I tell you I heard a whip-poor-will singing last night?

3 comments:

  1. How fabulous! I am just beginning to truly appreciate the different bird calls that add the soundtrack to my world - and to have something so special so close ... wow :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi mountain girl,
    So glad you came by. Yes, this whip-poor-will song was such a wow experience. I couldn't have been more surprised and delighted. Becoming familiar with bird songs has made my world so much richer. Its the music that makes me search to find them and want to know more about their lives, their habits and their personalities. And this knowledge creates an intimacy that enriches my life, makes them part of my life and deepens my desire to help our earth.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I am still in the process if identifying the bids that sing to me each day (the new camera will help with that) and matching bodies to sounds and it is one of my joys. My day would be very dark without the sing song of one visitor or another :-)

    ReplyDelete