Date: 3/17/25 6:23 am From: Kevin Kubach (via carolinabirds Mailing List) <carolinabirds...> Subject: Update on Whip-poor-will site fidelity
Good Morning. For at least the third consecutive spring, "B21"--a male
Whip-poor-will--is back in the exact same territory in Fant's Grove WMA
near Clemson, SC (background below). Over the past few years I've seen him
evade Barred Owl attacks, deal with big, bully Chuck-will's-widows, and put
up with a weird human who frequently shows up before dawn and loiters
around his territory. And who knows what he has had to handle on the
wintering grounds.
Kevin Kubach
Greenville/Clemson, SC
On Thu, Mar 28, 2024 at 7:34 PM Kevin Kubach <kmkubach...> wrote:
> Good Evening. From a science standpoint, this might not be all that
> groundbreaking (i.e., Eastern Whip-poor-wills are probably just like
> many/most other birds in returning to precise breeding territories), but
> it's still pretty cool. I had a reunion of sorts a couple weeks ago with a
> "vocally banded" Whip-poor-will in Fant's Grove WMA near Clemson, SC.
>
> Last year, on 6 March 2023, I essentially found the birds just as they
> were arriving and beginning to sort out their territories. In this
> recording from that date, you can hear one bird singing from the beginning
> and it is eventually joined by a second bird (first heard at about 0:13 and
> a few times after that): https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://ebird.org/checklist/S130298613__;!!OToaGQ!vyAEsbpX3gLTzH6GwwJBRRG5sYwB6efnYrETzoheOv0PFdvHqmG3FEX9wmlVl3DnWR0YunA21688QafQPBom$ . The
> second bird was distinguishable by its slightly higher-pitched "WILL!" note
> (to the ear it is much more notable than can actually be seen on the
> spectrogram), and this bird apparently won the rights to that particular
> patch, as I would always find him singing there. I gave him a really
> creative name--"B21" (a trail marker nearby).
>
> He routinely used the same four or five singing locations marking the
> periphery of his patch, including a favorite horizontal log about 1 foot
> off the ground that was a former standing snag used by nesting Red-headed
> Woodpeckers. He was in this same area virtually every time I checked from
> March into June 2023.
>
> On 18 March 2024, as I approached the spot, I heard a familiar voice. (I
> realize there's always a chance another higher-than-average singer landed
> in the same spot, but he rotated among all the same singing spots as well.)
> He was about a week and a half later arriving this year, but most of the
> other birds were as well. Since the 18th, he has been there every time I've
> checked.
>
> Kevin Kubach
> Greenville/Clemson, SC
>
>
>
>
