Whip-poor-will?

Growing up on a small farm in East-Central Illinois I often fell asleep in the summertime listening to the call of the whip-poor-will. If you have heard the repeated “whip-poor-will, whip-poor-will” call I’m sure you will never forget it.

When we first moved here to South-Central Kentucky we heard a nighttime call of a bird that some referred to as a whip-poor-will. But, it seemed to have forgotten it’s lines. The call was different. Connie said it sounded to her more like “weird will.” We finally found out that it was a larger cousin of the whip-poor-will called chuck-will’s- widow.

Listen to the difference. First the whip-poor-will. Now the chuck-will’s-widow.

We have heard the “real” whip-poor-will once or twice since we have been here but it doesn’t seem to be a permanent resident. The chuck-will’s-widow is heard almost every night, and sometimes it seems to be right outside our window. Since both are nocturnal we have never actually seen one. Perhaps someday.

Obviously since I haven’t seen one these photos were not taken by me, but borrowed from the internet. On the left is a whip-poor-will. It is about 9 3/4 inches long. Chuck-will’s-widow, below, is larger and redder. The chuck-will’s-widow is about 12 inches long.