whipporwill

[sidelock]

One thing I miss about spring gobbler hunting in western Virginia is the call of the whippoorwill in the evening as I sit by the camp fire. Any of you been there?

 

[mooman76]

Not the hunting part but sitting on the front porch in the evening.

 

[George]

Sure have. I don't sleep out, any more, but back when I did a bunch of solo trekking and slept over, I have had that beautiful call sing me to sleep many a time.

Thanks for the memory.

Spence

 

[Grumpa]

Enjoy your memory...I'm going to sleep...without any whippoorwills or mourning doves.

 

[54ball]

While not really a soothing noise by any means, I enjoy the alarms and fussing call of what we call a wood hen or crested redheaded woodpecker. Officially it's the Pilated woodpecker.

A Great Blue Heron sounds like a hog or a.... monster.

I enjoy and get amused at the all squirrels raising cane as well.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

You miss that?

Criminey.....I was at Scout Camp in Goshen VA in 1974 and one o' them things got into a tree near my tent. LOUDEST dang bird outside of a woodpecker going at a tree.....

Would not stop and it was 1 a.m. Had to chuck a chunk of firewood into the tree to get it to move. Luckily it went far enough away and continued to call but with less volume so I could go back to sleep.

LD

 

[Sean Gadhar]

You miss that?

Criminey.....I was at Scout Camp in Goshen VA in 1974 and one o' them things got into a tree near my tent. LOUDEST dang bird outside of a woodpecker going at a tree.....

Would not stop and it was 1 a.m. Had to chuck a chunk of firewood into the tree to get it to move. Luckily it went far enough away and continued to call but with less volume so I could go back to sleep.

LD

Many years ago we had a herd of elk feed about 75 yards from camp at about midnight to 4am.

Cow elk never shut up at night. Must have been 100 of them and at least a dozen were calling at any one moment.

They were such bad neighbors come day light I set off tracking them and about 10 AM found THEM snoozing & shot the 1st cow to stand up :wink:

 

[Snakebite]

Even though I live in town, we're on the edge. Sitting on my back porch, every now and then we hear them along with an owl and a lot of doves.

Also when the wind in blowing just right, we can hear tank gunnery from Fort Hood, those main guns and machineguns, the sound of freedom!

 

[Matt PA]

Last year at our camp in the mountains of PA I took my wife and daughter, and a couple buddies took their young daughters along for a weekend camping and fishing trip.
The girls were having a great time and insisted that they sleep outside in tents by the campfire.

Little did I know that one of my buddies told the girls the day before that there were Bigfoots in the area and described the call they make to each other.
:wink:
Yes....a whiporwill call.

The girls came screaming into the cabin in the middle of the night because Bigfoot was on the hill behind camp. :rotf:

Ahhhh memories.

 

[tenngun]

I love to hear them, and never have effected my sleep. Crickets, tree frogs, fox and coyotes just children of the night, with all due respect to Bram Stocker.

 

[Spikebuck]

I love the whippoorwill call...even have it as my new text alert sound on the cell phone.

We used to have a lot of them around over a decade ago, but as the coyote populations increased, the whippoorwill sounds seemed to decrease. Now it's a rarity. Was glad to hear a few more of them on my hunting lease.

Now, as far as being woken up...a couple of raucous Barred Owls right behind my house will take care of that! Sometimes they get going wildly and sound like a troop of monkeys. Still love to hear them, though.

 

[Len Graves]

My wife had invited a girl friend to visit overnight with her new husband from New York City. He complained he couldn't sleep all night because of the noise. After several guesses we discovered his "noise", crickets.

 

[Patocazador]

After ~2000 calls the whippoorwill (chuck-will's-widow here)gets rather annoying. Both of my kids are still scared of barred owls' calls due to a scary camping story from when they were ~ 6-8 yrs. old). And great-horned (hoot) owls seem to be most vociferous just before daybreak and tell me it's time to get up.

They are all welcome in my neighborhood.

 

[larry wv]

Spikebuck you are probably right about Coyotes killing Whippoorwills. I haven't heard one in 4 or 5 years or so. It's been so long I had forgotten about them.

Larry

 

[Mike Payne]

I live in central Virginia can see the Blue Ridge from my house.
I hear Whipoorwills every night love hearing them.
For years did not hear them but in the last 10 years or so they seem to have a very welcome come back! :grin:
Mike

 

[hawkeye2]

I have lived on Whippoorwill Lane with 13.5 acres of woods around me for 17 years and have yet to hear one anywhere on the ridge. :idunno:

 

[sidelock]

I guess they don't like apple orchards. :wink:

 

[Ames]

Coyotes, owls and wood frogs. Spring peepers tonight. No whippoorwill.
But with over 1200 acres (not mine) outside the back door to call home,a bald eagles cry will get your attention darn quick.

 

[dyemaker]

I havent heard a whipporwill in many years so they must be rare here too. Usually a mockingbird at night around here. Occasional owl outside my window but I dont enjoy that being supersticious about them. (Can be) a bad omen. Makes me nervous. Coyotes on the move constantly.

 

[Patocazador]

This is the sound of the chuck-will's-widow that I hear at night in the spring (now),
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Chuck-wills-widow/sounds