The Eastern Whip-poor-will is far more often heard than seen — in fact most people who know it well have never laid eyes on one. Its loud, rolling, tirelessly repeated song, a rhythmic "whip-poor-WILL, whip-poor-WILL" delivered hundreds of times on end through the darkness, is one of the great voices of a summer night in Michigan's dry woodlands. The bird itself is a masterpiece of camouflage, its intricately mottled gray-brown plumage blending so perfectly with dead leaves that a roosting whip-poor-will is almost impossible to spot.
A nocturnal member of the nightjar family, it hunts moths and other flying insects at dusk and through the night, often foraging by moonlight, and it times its breeding so that chicks hatch near a full moon when hunting is easiest. Whip-poor-wills nest on the leaf-littered ground of open oak and pine woodlands with clearings, and they have declined significantly across their range — now assessed as Near Threatened — as such habitats are lost and flying-insect populations fall.
Feeds on flying insects, especially moths and beetles, caught in its wide gaping mouth during nocturnal foraging flights, hunting most actively at dusk, dawn, and by moonlight. Bright moonlit nights improve its hunting, and it may even time nesting so chicks are fed around the full moon.
Whip-poor-wills are strictly nocturnal and extraordinarily well camouflaged, roosting motionless on the leaf-covered ground by day. Their loud, repeated night song makes them easy to hear but their cryptic plumage makes them very hard to see.
Both are nightjars, but the whip-poor-will lives in wooded areas, sings its name-like song from the ground or low perches at night, and lacks white wing bars. The nighthawk forages high in the open sky at dusk and shows a bold white wing bar.
The Eastern Whip-poor-will has declined enough to be listed as Near Threatened. Loss of open woodland and barrens habitat and reductions in the flying insects it eats are thought to be major factors.
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