Are whip-poor-wills intentionally annoying?

[John Brunner]

For the past couple of years I've had a whip-poor-will staking out his territory, which seems to overlap with my territory. One of his boundaries is right outside of my living room window.

Whip-poor-WILL!
Whip-poor-WILL!
Whip-poor-WILL!
Whip-poor-WILL!
Whip-poor-WILL!
Night after night after night.

Damn, son. Give it a rest. Of course, they're difficult to see in the best of circumstance. There's no chance of me spotting it after dark.

They are not endangered but their numbers seem to be declining here in the east. Interestingly, one reason they are on the decline is they like "early successional forest habitats," meaning 1st generation forests after a fire. Fire prevention efforts by Man have reduced the number of such incidents.

Folklore has it that the song of whip-poor-wills is a death omen. This is referred to in "Whip-poor-will", a short story by James Thurber, in which the constant nighttime singing of a whip-poor-will results in maddening insomnia of the protagonist, Mr. Kinstrey, who eventually loses his mind and kills everyone in his house, including himself. I can see that happening...

Like many other small birds, its decibel level is disproportionate to its size.

 

[Mary Robi]

I had one of his cousins, a Chuck-Wills-Widow, living in my tree for three summers. They sing at night, too. Incessantly. And they only know one song. It's not in Billboard's Top 10, either.

Mockingbird will drive you crazy at night, too, mostly during mating season. At least they know more than one song.

Luckily, all I have now is owls and I love hearing them. They sing me to sleep every night.

 

[Yvonne Smith]

I will trade you our neighborhood roosters all crowing for your whip-poor-will crying at night, @John Brunner ! Chickens, and especially roosters, are not supposed to be allowed here in the Huntsville city limits; but since all of the Hispanics moved in, they all have a backyard farm, and at the crack of dawn, the whole neighborhood erupts with the morning sounds of roosters trying to out crow each other, and it does not stop until they are worn out and go to roost at night.

We have had “visiting” chickens, ducks, rabbits, and even pigs that have wandered out of someone else’s yard and arrived here in our yard. Bobby and I have been expecting to see cows any day now……

 

[Jacob Petersheim]

Cows? Maybe goats first.

I'm more annoyed by mourning doves here. Not for their calls but because they keep nesting in my hedges and when I'm mowing and such they get startled and as they scurry they make weird noises that startle me back. The nests also seem to draw in a skunk now and then, and who needs that when you go out there after dark?

 

[John Brunner]

I had one of his cousins, a Chuck-Wills-Widow, living in my tree for three summers. They sing at night, too. Incessantly. And they only know one song. It's not in Billboard's Top 10, either.

Mockingbird will drive you crazy at night, too, mostly during mating season. At least they know more than one song.

Luckily, all I have now is owls and I love hearing them. They sing me to sleep every night.

I have a telescope and will either stay up late or set my alarm to catch astronomical events. Once I was out at 3AM to catch a Full Lunar Eclipse. Even when an eclipse occurs in the dead of night, it casts an eerie pallor. Things were dead-silent, except for the song of a lone mockingbird. It was haunting.

I went out last night when the whip-poor-will was in full-throated annoyance mode and heard the soothing sound of a barred owl in the background. But even owls have their moments. I was watching TV one night, and a Great Horned Owl was in the tree right outside the window.

HOO!!!​

I about jumped out of my skin.

 

[John Brunner]

I will trade you our neighborhood roosters all crowing for your whip-poor-will crying at night, @John Brunner ! Chickens, and especially roosters, are not supposed to be allowed here in the Huntsville city limits; but since all of the Hispanics moved in, they all have a backyard farm, and at the crack of dawn, the whole neighborhood erupts with the morning sounds of roosters trying to out row each other, and it does not stop until they are worn out and go to roost at night.
We have had “visiting” chickens, ducks, rabbits, and even pigs that have wandered out of someone else’s yard and arrived here in our yard. Bobby and I have been expecting to see cows any day now……

The only farm critter out here has been my neighbor's Black Angus cows. He came by one day because they got out, and he wondered if they meandered my way. I told him that if he didn't see smoke coming from my grill, I ain't seen his cattle.

 

[Faye Fox]

I have a telescope and will either stay up late or set my alarm to catch astronomical events. Once I was out at 3AM to catch a Full Lunar Eclipse. Even when an eclipse occurs in the dead of night, it casts an eerie pallor. Things were dead-silent, except for the song on a lone mockingbird. It was haunting.

I went out last night when the whip-poor-will was in full-throated annoyance mode and heard the soothing sound of a barred owl in the background. But even owls have their moments. I was watching TV one night, and a Great Horned Owl was in the tree right outside the window.

HOO!!!​

I about jumped out of my skin.

Video this injustice and take it to the management!

 

[John Brunner]

Cows? Maybe goats first.

I'm more annoyed by mourning doves here. Not for their calls but because they keep nesting in my hedges and when I'm mowing and such they get startled and as they scurry they make weird noises that startle me back. The nests also seem to draw in a skunk now and then, and who needs that when you go out there after dark?

When I first moved in I had a family of skunk here. The place had been vacant for a long time, so I guess they took up residence. I stopped seeing them after my first summer here. I guess my presence chased them off.

I like having them around. Not only do they eat moles, they dig up the ground nests of yellow jackets, which I'm allergic to. Funny I never smelled them.

 

[John Brunner]

Video this injustice and take it to the management!

Maybe I should play the role of City Boy Moves To The Country And Shows His Ignorance and call the county to do something about it. "Can you make it stop singing after dark? What do I pay my taxes for?!?!?!?!?"

 

[Marie Miller]

For the past couple of years I've had a whip-poor-will staking out his territory, which seems to overlap with my territory. One of his boundaries is right outside of my living room window.

Whip-poor-WILL!
Whip-poor-WILL!
Whip-poor-WILL!
Whip-poor-WILL!
Whip-poor-WILL!
Night after night after night.

Damn, son. Give it a rest. Of course, they're difficult to see in the best of circumstance. There's no chance of me spotting it after dark.

They are not endangered but their numbers seem to be declining here in the east. Interestingly, one reason they are on the decline is they like "early successional forest habitats," meaning 1st generation forests after a fire. Fire prevention efforts by Man have reduced the number of such incidents.

Folklore has it that the song of whip-poor-wills is a death omen. This is also referred by "Whip-poor-will", a short story by James Thurber, in which the constant nighttime singing of a whip-poor-will results in maddening insomnia of the protagonist, Mr. Kinstrey, who eventually loses his mind and kills everyone in his house, including himself. I can see that happening...

Like many other small birds, its decibel level is disproportionate to its size.

Stay up and sing with him.

 

[John Brunner]

Regarding that Thurber story about whip-poor-wills causing homicidal insomnia...the bird knows where I am in the house. It sits in a bush outside my living room window in the evening to antagonize me, then sometimes the bastard moves to a tree near my bedroom window and starts his crap at 3AM. We are not gonna be friends.

 

[Mary Stetler]

I will trade you our neighborhood roosters all crowing for your whip-poor-will crying at night, @John Brunner ! Chickens, and especially roosters, are not supposed to be allowed here in the Huntsville city limits; but since all of the Hispanics moved in, they all have a backyard farm, and at the crack of dawn, the whole neighborhood erupts with the morning sounds of roosters trying to out row each other, and it does not stop until they are worn out and go to roost at night.
We have had “visiting” chickens, ducks, rabbits, and even pigs that have wandered out of someone else’s yard and arrived here in our yard. Bobby and I have been expecting to see cows any day now……

Cows, very tasty if you can get them into Bobby's shop.

 

[Krystal Shay]

You all are making laugh this morning only because I can relate to the noisy birds at night. I also have had a hooting owl outside our bedroom window; hooting all freaking night! It sounded like it was sitting on my nightstand just hootin' it up. @John Brunner, those great horned owls are HUGE, and very scary when they swoop by. I live in a subdivision for crying out loud, yet we have so many wild animals move through at night.

 

[Marie Miller]

You all are making laugh this morning only because I can relate to the noisy birds at night. I also have had a hooting owl outside our bedroom window; hooting all freaking night! It sounded like it was sitting on my nightstand just hootin' it up. @John Brunner, those great horned owls are HUGE, and very scary when they swoop by. I live in a subdivision for crying out loud, yet we have so many wild animals move through at night.

A Hooting Owl beats a snoring room mate!

 

[Faye Fox]

You all are making laugh this morning only because I can relate to the noisy birds at night. I also have had a hooting owl outside our bedroom window; hooting all freaking night! It sounded like it was sitting on my nightstand just hootin' it up. @John Brunner, those great horned owls are HUGE, and very scary when they swoop by. I live in a subdivision for crying out loud, yet we have so many wild animals move through at night.

Luckily, we have smaller barn owls but they seem to be as horny as the Great Horned. Little owls with big hooters!

 

[Krystal Shay]

A Hooting Owl beats a snoring room mate!

You have a good point there. I have a loud snoring husband. Sometimes, most of the time, when he snores, I want to smother him with a pillow at night.

 

[John Brunner]

You have a good point there. I have a loud snoring husband. Sometimes, most of the time, when he snores, I want to smother him with a pillow at night.

"The whip-poor-will made me do it, Your Honor. There's precedence..."

Then play a recording of it, over and over and over. You'll get off.

 

[Faye Fox]

 

[Beth Gallagher]

MALWARE BLOCKED.

I'm getting a Malware Blocked warning when I open this thread. Is someone linking to

Malware URL :
exploringanimals.com

 

[John Brunner]

MALWARE BLOCKED.

I'm getting a Malware Blocked warning when I open this thread. Is someone linking to

Malware URL :
exploringanimals.com

That's the site I direct-linked the bird pic from. That's odd...I have Malwarebytes and was all over that site and I got no warnings. Plus it's just a linked pic. (I just now ran the pic through IMGUR and replaced the direct link to get rid of it.)

I just did a web search on the url and it came back with a Trust Level of 0 (partly for Malware.) I wonder why my Malwarebytes did not pick the stuff up.