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Whippoorwill Facts, Folklore, and Haunting Night Calls

Image Credit:
Laura Gooch/Flickr Creative Commons
Written By: Joel M. Vance Humor Writer and Outdoorsman

Does the whippoorwill drink goat’s milk? Does it foretell death, marriage, or woe? Can your aching back be cured by its call? Few birds have spun such a crazed web of mythology and myth-information. At the heart of this confusion and misdirection is a medium-size bird called the whippoorwill.

Introduction to the Whippoorwill

The merit or blame for this bird’s name belongs to Aristotle. The wise philosopher took a frivolous side trip into illogic to report a ridiculous story about the whippoorwill: “Flying to the udders of she-goats, it sucks them and so it gets its name,” he reported.

It was probably the whippoorwills (or their crepuscular cousins, the nighthawks) that were snagging insects as the insects congregated around the thin-haired bellies of goats. But Aristotle’s authoritative nonsense stuck with the Caprimulgidae family (the Latin word comes from capri for “goat” and mulgere “to milk”), and one common name for the bird family is the inelegant “goatsucker.”

Whippoorwill perched on a branch at dusk.
Photo by Dominic Sherony/Flickr Media Commons.

Where Whippoorwills Live and Their Habitat

In North America, whippoorwills range from eastern Texas to southern Canada and east to the Atlantic. The night is theirs, although in both daylight and dark the birds depend on their superb camouflage to see them through. 

Whippoorwill Behavior and Courtship Rituals

Whippoorwills do their courting after sunset. The male’s spring ritual is an elaborate one, involving strutting, throat-puffing, and a variety of noises designed to convince the silent female that he is the best mate among a forest swarming with calling males. It’s almost impossible for a spring woods traveler to escape the questionable music of one of the family to which the whippoorwill belongs. If you venture into a forest in the weeks ahead, keep an ear cocked for the whippoorwill’s call and be prepared to make a wish, do a somersault, or see the Moon in a frog pond.

► Listen to the haunting call of a whippoorwill, courtesy of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

It could mean many things, according to the wealth of myth surrounding this night flyer.
The note of the whippoorwill borne over the fields is the voice with which the woods and moonlight woo me.
–Henry David Thoreau, American Writer (1817–62)

Whippoorwill Folklore and Superstitions

Old wives worked overtime to whipstitch the tattered fabric of whippoorwill folklore. Here are some examples…

  • When a single woman heard her first whippoorwill in springtime, she must have felt her heart lurch in panic, for if the bird did not call again, she would remain single for a year. If the birdsong continued, she was fated to remain single unless she had been quick-thinking and made a wish upon hearing the first call. If she kept that wish secret, she ultimately would be married.
  • Whippoorwills singing near a house were an omen of death, or at least of bad luck.
  • A man could rid himself of an aching back if he turned somersaults in time to whippoorwill calls.

Native American Beliefs About Whippoorwills

  • If an Omaha tribe Native American heard a whippoorwill’s called invitation, he or she was advised to decline it. If the bird then stopped calling, a person who had answered would die. But if the calls continued, the person would have a long life.
  • The Colorado Utes believed that the whippoorwill was one of the gods of the night and could transform a frog into the Moon.
  • The Iroquois believed that moccasin flowers were the shoes of whippoorwills.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a whippoorwill?

The whippoorwill is a medium-sized, nocturnal bird native to North America. It is known for its distinctive “whip-poor-will” call and excellent camouflage in forests.

Where do whippoorwills live?

Whippoorwills range from eastern Texas and the Gulf Coast to southern Canada and east to the Atlantic. They prefer open woodlands, forest edges, and areas with leaf litter for nesting.

What does the whippoorwill’s call mean?

The call is primarily for attracting mates and establishing territory. Folklore has also given magical or mystical attributes to the call, such as the ability to predict marriage, bad luck, or death.

Why is the whippoorwill called a “goatsucker”?

The name comes from a long-standing myth that whippoorwills suckle goats. This misconception dates back to Aristotle but is entirely false. The birds actually feed on insects.

Are whippoorwills endangered?

Whippoorwill populations have declined in some areas due to habitat loss and light pollution, but they are not considered endangered. Conservation efforts focus on protecting forest habitats.

Can I hear a whippoorwill at night?

Yes! The whippoorwill is most active at dusk and night during the breeding season. Listen for its rhythmic call, often repeated dozens or hundreds of times in a row.

Have you ever heard the call of a whippoorwill? Tell us about it in the comments below!

Bird Sounds

About The Author

Joel M. Vance

Joel M. Vance

Humor Writer and Outdoorsman

Joel M. Vance, an outdoor columnist and humor editor, spent twenty years as a conservation writer but is better known for his humorous books.

Read more from Joel M. Vance

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Comments

<span>Winston Elston</span> Mon, 03/29/2021 - 14:06
I had never heard the call of the whippoorwill before last Friday night (26 March, 2021), but my dog was raising the lower reaches of Purgatory barking in my back yard. I went out and heard the bird call - I was surprised how complex it sounded with a rolling sound to the second syllable compared to the three-syllable name - in the next-door neighbor's back yard. The neighbor asked me if I knew what kind of bird it was, and I replied that I thought it was a whippoorwill. Her husband looked it up and played the call back in his speaker phone. A moment later, the bird went quiet and my dog came up to the back porch and into the house.
<span>Jackie Roberts</span> Thu, 03/25/2021 - 20:43
On Monday 03/ 22/2021 morning about 6:15 AM I was sewing and heard the whipporwill. That night I heard the call in my bedroom. I've heard him three nights in a row. We had a big storm this evening so he isn't out there tonight. We have one that sings every night under our bedroom window in the summer time. Haven't heard one this early in the year before.
<span>Mark Pospichal</span> Mon, 03/15/2021 - 15:54
When I was five or six years old, whippoorwills used to call at night from right outside my bedroom window. The window went from the ceiling to the mopboard and didn't have curtains. I was so scared I huddled in a ball buried way under the blankets with my back to the window. My Dad told me they were harmless little birds, but hearing them, I could only picture them as huge birds with red glowing eyes and long bills with big fangs! I'm 65 now and know better, but their song still kind of gives me the creeps.
<span>Del</span> Fri, 12/04/2020 - 16:56
I was about 11 when I first heard the call. Had started some time, I'd say about a week, before Christmas. My mom was afraid it meant death and we would try to scare it away from our home. He called and called and called and no matter what we did, he wouldn't leave. Christmas day he landed on the eve of the house above my mother's bedroom. We shooed him away and didn't hear his call the rest of the evening. Early the next day I woke to the sound of my grandfather's wife driving up our driveway. She had come to tell my mother that her mother had passed overnight. To this day, I've never heard his call again. And I don't want to, either.
<span>Gray Parks</span> Thu, 11/19/2020 - 15:11
I enjoyed the comments from so many folk all over the country. I am over 90 years old and haven't heard a Whip Poor Will for about 75 years, but I remember their haunting call in southwest Virginia and still mimic them on occasion. I have a friend who likes to whistle the Bob White call and I respond with the Whip Poor Will call. I never had one that disturbed my sleep, as some of the other commenters have, so I look back with nostalgia, at the call of the Whip Poor Will.
<span>Sheila Wafer</span> Tue, 11/17/2020 - 17:26
I'd like to add that I'm 60 years old....ummm, young....now. That means that the whippoorwills have been returning to the area for at least 60 years.
<span>Sheila Wafer</span> Tue, 11/17/2020 - 17:08
I don't know if one would consider northern Ontario as part of southern Canada but it is definitely whippoorwill habitat. I've heard their songs almost every evening since I was a child and again, now that I have moved back to the same area in which I lived as a child. Every summer, I can hear them calling. Sometimes, only one. Other times, as many as three. Probably one of my favourite sounds of summer. Next to the loons.
<span>Spurwing Plover</span> Sun, 11/08/2020 - 01:56
I read that the Lady Slipper Orchid are also called Whippoorwill Shoes and if anyone rememebers the Fess Parker TV series Danial Boone might recall Boone often used the birds call at night
<span>Tammy Ambrose</span> Thu, 09/17/2020 - 11:40
As a little girl living in Tennessee, I would often lay in my bed at night and listen to the sounds of the Whippoorwill outside my window. I often found the sound sad and lonely, but he would sing me to sleep most nights. Now, at 60 and living in the city, I haven't heard a Whippoorwill in years and I miss their sad, but relaxing song.
<span>Kathy Smith</span> Thu, 08/06/2020 - 20:51
We used them all over the place on summer nights growing up in upstate NY just south of the Canadian border. Haven’t heard them in this area or here in Vt for over 30 years. I so miss them calling, I used to sit by my bedroom for hours on summer nights listening to them. I pray I get to hear them again someday.