Most springs we have one lone whippoorwill that makes its presence known early in the morning and late in the evening. The first few years we heard the lonesome call our little dog Ruby Sue was still with us.
Every call of the bird brought on a serious fit of barking from Ruby. Not so nice at five in the morning 🙂 But there was no convincing Ruby that she didn’t need to protect us from the bird.
Pap said when he was a boy there was lots of whippoorwills. He told me a funny story about them.
Old man Jeff and his brothers were out fox hunting one night and the whippoorwills were so loud they couldn’t hear the dogs running. Jeff told one of his brothers to pull out his shirt tail and tie a knot in it to choke the whippoorwills. As soon as he tied the knot the birds quietened a bit. And he told him to tie another one and the birds got even quieter! The old man then instructed his brother to tie one more knot and as he tied the last knot all the whippoorwills fell out of the tree and there hasn’t been a whippoorwill in Bellview since!
Now that’s what you call a tall tall tale!
I love hearing the call of the whippoorwill. The sound is kind of eerie and lonesome. In some areas the whippoorwill population has been decreased by as much as 80%, not because of someone choking them out with their shirt-tail, but by continued spread and sprawl of people and pressure from increased animal populations. I can’t imagine what the sound would be like if there were a lot of the birds in one area.
Even though we are typically only blessed by one or two whippoorwills hanging around our house I’ve written about them several times over the years.
On one of the posts Ken Roper shared this story of a whippoorwill encounter.
“When I was little, after supper we’d go out on the front porch and listen to the nightingales and whippoorwills calling for their mates. Mama always said the nightingale never said the same thing. One time, after dark, Tommy Higdon brought his coon dogs up to the house to see if he could catch a coon and me and Harold went with him. There wasn’t no roads going up in the holler, only trails. We got up in the holler a far piece and his dogs smelled something under the banks near the creek. They wouldn’t bother it, but Tommy reached under the bank and pulled out a Whippoorwill. It wasn’t no bigger than a thought, but we noticed them red, beady eyes. Me and Harold had never seen one up close and were amazed. It was speckled, kinda like our domineckers back home in the roost. How could anything make such a loud racket, being so small? We put it back in the bank on a root and left it alone. We learned something that night and never spoke of it again.”
—Ken Roper
I’ve especially enjoyed the call of the whippoorwills this spring. For one thing it’s the first time I can remember that there are obviously two of the birds calling so that’s really nice.
The speciality of the bird calls have also given me something to focus my gratefulness on during this time of sickness in our family.
You can hear one of the whippoorwills that’s been calling this year below.
Years ago I read a quote about hope being the small bird that sits on your shoulder and chirps. I can’t remember where I read it nor who to attribute it to but I’ve always remembered it.
This year the call of the whippoorwills have certainly been the bird on my shoulder singing of hope in the early watches of the morning.
Last night’s video: Adding More Cattle Panels to Our Garden.
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I just found you, and I’m so happy I did! I live in NE Alabama-in the foothills of the Appalachian Mts. I love my mountains and their deep roots of faith, family, and nature that make me feel safe in this world. There’s no place I’d rather call home.
My paternal grandparents lived with us. They helped raised me while my parents worked, so I feel like I know so much more about the old, precious Appalachian ways than many of my counterparts. We always sat on the porch after supper (no air conditioning) and whenever we heard a whooperwhill holler for the first time in the spring, my grandmother would tell us that it was safe to go barefoot now. We wouldn’t catch the “ague” after you heard them call. When she was young, that meant the kids took off their shoes, they were then oiled and put up until cold weather came again, and everyone was barefoot until it got except for church days of course. I would not trade every jewel in this world for the 40 years that I got to spend with her. Thank you for taking the time to write this blog and keep your YouTube channel going. It all warms my heart and brings a tear to my eye.
Hearing the whipperwills makes me feel like my great great grandpa and grandma are reaching out to me. Tipper, many prayers for Miss Cindy.
That’s a beautiful photo! I enjoyed the recording. Ive not heard a whipporwill this year, until now.
“When whippoorwills call
And evening is nigh
I hurry to my Blue Heaven”
All the lyrics are here: https://lyricsplayground.com/alpha/songs/m/myblueheaven.html
Blessings to all . . .
I’ve always loved to sit outside early in the morning or late of an evening and listen to that beautiful sound of the whippoorwill. We heard them more in our area growing up, but still hear one occasionally around here today. Every time I hear the sound of the whippoorwill I automatically think COUNTRY LIVING!!
Thanks for the recording, I’ve listened to it several times already.
I thought I heard a whippoorwill the other night but after listening closely it turned out not to be. It sounded more like the chuck-willow-will or whatever it is called. That made me sad. It’s not the same.
I did see a lightning bug last. Just one but that’s a start!
I haven’t heard a whippoorwill in years and thank you for sharing that recording. I always enjoy hearing birds sing. Continued prayers for Miss Cindy and all of you.
I haven’t heard a Whippoorwill since I was a child! I’ve never actually seen one but always loved hearing them and all the birds singing. I guess I imagined they were much better looking!! Thank you for your prayers–I am thinking of yall and Miss Cindy so often and praying.
Oops, I forgot to say listening to your video and hearing Matt say he was wanting to go fishing made me think of all the fun times I had when I went fishing with my husband. My husband was a great fisherman and always caught fish. He seemed to know where the fish hung out and he didn’t have the fancy equipment on his old boat that would tell you fish were below. He knew by the weed beds, structures coming off a point, where trees had fallen in and provided a hole. I tried to remember but there was too much to absorb and I just loved being out on the water. It was a serene place for me to enjoy all of God’s creation. He taught our sons how to fish and had them out on the banks of a local trout stream when they were little fellas. Then he took them to a larger lake to fish for Bass, etc. It wasn’t a huge lake but he could take them up after work or on the weekend. They loved it, and he said it would be getting dusk and they would say “Just one more cast Daddy.” Their daddy is in heaven now but they sure know how to fish and love it to this day. Our oldest son came for a visit and they had a fantastic day yesterday catching Trout about 2 hours NE from us.
Thank God for birds of the air ! Especially the Whippoorwill’s call!!!!
We occassionally hear whipporwills at our camper in the summer.
I wish I had known about those wonderful cattle panels when I was a lot younger and making a garden, especially for beans, cucumbers and tomatoes. And those grow bags appear to really have worked well in growing potatoes. Your garden looks great! I’m too old to handle a big garden anymore but my son has put up three tall raised beds ( like your metal panels you just put up on your hill, but these are made of wood and stand about 4 feet tall so I don’t have to get down on the ground.) I must say it is a blessing to walk out on your patio and pick a few tommy-toes eating them right there. Can’t get any fresher than that:) My youngest son has been buying my garden plants and planting them for Mother’s Day and I really love everything he puts in. I have two types of tommy-toes growing, cucumbers are in, another bed holds zucchini and little yellow squash, plus, lettuce, and a better boy large tomato. He’s bringing a bush bean and bell pepper today and I have those walking onions and a few pots of herbs, a pot of blue berries, rasberries and strawberries. That is all I have room for but I sure enjoy every fresh vegetable I grow.
I was always astonished how Mother and Daddy knew every bird call, plus knew trees, and bushes, in the woods. I’m more familiar with the Bobwhite Quail or Pheasant because my Daddy was a hunter. At the time he grew up in NE MS their wasn’t any deer to hunt but by the time he retired in the 80’s the deer were moving back in and now I hear that Wild Hogs are coming in.
I’ve heard that there are large populations of feral cats and that they kill more birds and animals on the ground. Miss Cindy and ya all are on my prayer list.
Thank you for sharing the sound of the whipporwill. I so enjoyed hearing that this morning. I will probably play it back several more times today!
It’s been a long time since I heard a whippoorwill. Thanks for sharing your recording. I live in a house with porches on all four sides that make it hard to hear the bird from inside. I’m seldom outside after dark here in the boonies. Being a big chicken that’s afraid of the dark has caused me to miss out on meteor showers, coyotes, and whippoorwills calling. I love it when friends and family come to visit and we sit outside at night.
Praying that God will bless Miss Cindy and keep her pain-free!
I just realized that we don’t have many whippoorwills! They were so noisy but now they are silent. Could there be a virus or something taking them out? I know the palm trees all over Florida are dying unless you have the money for the ‘shot’ to kill the beetle that is killing them. You have to innoculate them twice a year and it is hundreds of dollars. So the hotels keep on preventing the beetle kill so the palms can live on to provide traditional Florida decor but the rest of us are not so lucky. I have two in my yard and keep waiting to see the scary brown center fronds. My brother lost his last year but so far mine have resisted. We lost all the wild bay trees already. I’m so glad we have memories to appreciate all that God made. Now the whippoorwills? So sad.
Tipper,
Thanks for whippoorwill music. Another subject:
Canton, NC papermill execs sell 50,000 shares of stock four days before telling announcing closing that will affect 1100 workers.
The last time I heard a whippoorwill was in Cedartown GA about 25 years ago. Every time I think of a whippoorwill, I remember the movie Thunder Road and the beautiful song Keely Smith sang. “The Whippoorwill”
When I was growing up, we had whippoorwills and screech owls around our house all the time. The whippoorwills are mostly gone now, largely due to logging in our area and an increase in the coyote population, I’m sure. There is a chucks will widow that calls most nights in my parents’ pasture now, but it isn’t the same. Last month, I heard one screech owl in the woods behind where my husband I live one evening , but I haven’t heard it since then. Even the bobwhites are mostly gone from our area now, and I really miss all of them.
Thanks for sharing your Whippoorwill’s call. None around here now. Always heard them growing up.
Have not heard those sounds for a long time. I knew birds seemed louder and butterflies more plentiful back in the day. I am grateful for them all. Had to run in and call grandson out to see a Mama groundhog with her two babies eating clover in the yard. He loved them! I have to realize they will probably eat my small garden, but I suppose we all have to share this earth. I will let the clover get higher before mowing. Prayers and thought with Miss Cindy. I always loved her posts so full of wisdom, and she had a natural gift for writing. May God Bless your family, and may he walk this walk with all of you.
No whippoorwill’s on this airish morning in East Tennessee, but the birds are singing beautifully. When I think of the whippoorwill, I wonder how many Hank Williams saw when he recorded I’m So Lomesome I Could Cry.
Continued prayers for Miss Cindy and the family. Have a blessed day.
When my mom was far gone in her memories and we could not get a response from her, I would play a recording of the whipporwill’s song which she always loved. Hearing and recognizing the sound would bring her back to us for a few minutes. So grateful for the tender mercies God sends our way.
(((((Dear Tipper)))))
The poem to which you referred is entitled, “Hope is the thing with feathers,” and was written by Emily Dickenson:
‘Hope’ is the thing with feathers –
That perches in the soul –
And sings the tune without the words –
And never stops – at all –
And sweetest – in the Gale – is heard –
And sore must be the storm –
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm –
I’ve heard it in the chillest land –
And on the strangest Sea –
Yet – never – in Extremity,
It asked a crumb – of me.
Yes, Tipper, it is good to have hope. It is good to keep hope close. It is good to acknowledge sorrow AND to focus on what is pure, honest, just, true, lovely – be those things the song of the whippoorwill or the love of God.
May God comfort you all during this time of sickness and waiting and hoping. A better day is coming.
I’ve always loved the call of the whippoorwill, but this is the first time I’ve seen what they look like! They do look sort of fierce, but are dressed in perfect camouflage. God knew they would need to be, since their call would surely lead predators to the source.
Since retirement, I’ve put bird feeders on my back stoop and I continue to be amazed at the diversity and design of all my new avian friends. I haven’t seen a whippoorwill yet though….I guess they’re more commonly heard than seen. Thank you for sharing both th sight and sound of them!
I appreciated the recording; I haven’t heard a Whippoorwill in many years. My thoughts, blessings, and prayers to your family.
Whippoorwills are so wonderful to hear. There was one in the woods behind our house until about three years ago, but we stopped hearing it and haven’t heard one since. Keep hoping some more will find a home there. May God give you peace as this season of sickness continues.
I love the song of a whipperwill! I’ve grown rather partial to the song of the love doves that sit on my a/c unit every morning and sing. It echos into my house beautifully. It makes me think of my parents who have both gone on to be with Jesus and their love for each other.
I always like to hear them right about the time it’s starting to get dark. I like them decidedly less when they sit outside my bedroom window about 5:00 in the morning when Im trying to sleep. I can remember an older gentleman telling me one time that years ago the old people wouldn’t let them stay up around their house because they considered them to be an omen that someone in the house would soon die. Not sure how true that is, but I always thought it was an interesting story.
I hear the whippoorwill here at night, thank you for sharing, God bless you and your family in Jesus name ✝️❤️
Thanks for sharing about whippoorwills, my memories are more like a Steven King novel, when I was young between say 9 and 12 yrs old each time I heard a whippoorwill in the country side of Central Florida… within a day or two I would have a specific nightmare what was terrifying at the time. ( the same one reoccurring) at the time I attributed to the hearing of that particular sound…. I now understand as a Christian Adult the possibility of spiritual warfare and its influences. But as a child it was NOT pleasant….Thanks for all the memories your family invokes into our days and minds with all your post and memories….
we never miss a You Tube cast and we are certainly praying for this season of your family
I’m so happy for you that you have whippoorwills to listen to, even just a little envious! I love hearing their call and miss it. Here where I live they have disappeared. Our woods are the ideal location and habitat , but too many feral cats roam around, thus the whippoorwills have probably been killed out.
Continued prayers for Miss Cindy!
The Departments of Natural Resources in many states, including SC, are begging hunters to kill any feral cats they come across while hunting. A few years ago the state of Georgia did a study by putting cameras on cats that were being fed and taken care of , being brought in at night and only being let outside during the daylight hours. They found that a cat will kill any bird or other wildlife it can catch and just leave it, not out of hunger, it is just a cat’s instinct to kill. They are one of the worst predators of all. It was said in these studies that a cat can have kittens in the spring and in 6 months these kittens will be having kittens. Yes, I have a cat that is 12 years old that I pet and take care of. She belonged to my daughter and has been spayed.
Don’t forget about the Chuck-Will’s-Widow. This shy bird is a cousin to the Whippoorwill and has a more distinct call than the much faster chirping Whippoorwill. As kids we were told to listen closely to what the Chuck was singing “Chip the Widows White Oak”. And if you listened closely that is what it sounds like. At least to me. We live just south of Dallas and in the early spring every once in a while, late at night when the moon is up you can hear the Chuck.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XJt4WZnMP8
The whipperoorwill, bobwhite quail, field larks, and other wildlife including rabbits all seem to be wildlife of the past here where I live but the deer are plentiful and the SCDNR is happy. I live in one of the most rural, undisturbed areas left in Greenville County, SC, but it is changing fast. Townhouses and subdivisions are being built anywhere the developers can find a spot of vacant land destroying the remaining wildlife. A 350 home subdivision is in the early stages of being built about 500 yards from the entrance to @ 800-1,000 acre county landfill on land my wife’s granddaddy once farmed as a sharecropper. Most of the homes will be bought by people moving in from up north, they will buy these homes and soon be complaining about the landfill noise and traffic even though the landfill was already there. I wonder why they did not have enough sense to realize this before they bought the homes. No truer words than in the song Tipper mentioned awhile back “Tall Weeds And Rust”
Your description is true through out the south land these days.
I’m tempted to tell you to be thankful those newcomers are from the North (but I know better because that’s why I left Raleigh 30 years ago.
Here in Texas we are being overrun by Californians. We have political re-education centers on all incoming highways, but I’ll bet we start suffering from their votes real soon. 🙁
Beautiful birds! I love all birds but my favorite call is the chickadee. A young friend once told me he called them cheeseburger birds and when I asked why, he said their call sounds like cheese burger burger burger lol so I’ve always called them that since then. I have multiple rescue birds in my home and over 60+ outside ranging from chickens to a giant turkey and everything in between. its so peaceful to listen to them.
I loved watching Matt install the posts for the panels. Hubby decided we need at least 3…sooo, on to the hardware store. I don’t think I have heard a whippoorwill in a long time, but we do have several sets of Mourning Doves that make that lonesome sound. Granny and Miss Cindy, please tell them hello and God Bless.