Illinois Audubon Society—Whip-poor-wills

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1. The North American Breeding Bird Survey notes a cumulative decline of whip-poor-wills between 1966 and 2015 of what amount?

199 answers

35%

27 votes

13.6%

57%

70 votes

35.2%

75%

102 votes

51.3%

2. Eastern whip-poor-wills lay their eggs with the lunar cycle.

195 answers

True

169 votes

86.7%

False

26 votes

13.3%

3. How many times can a whip-poor-will call in a row?

193 answers

42 votes

21.8%

486

57 votes

29.5%

More than 1,000

94 votes

48.7%

4. Besides their namesake call, what sounds will a whip-poor-will make?

192 answers

All of the above

149 votes

77.6%

Growls and hisses

20 votes

10.4%

Quirt

18 votes

9.4%

Growl

3 votes

1.6%

Hiss

2 votes

1.0%

5. A female whip-poor-will lays her eggs directly on forest floor.

192 answers

True

154 votes

80.2%

False

38 votes

19.8%

6. What is a group of whip-poor-wills called?

190 answers

A charm or trembling.

105 votes

55.3%

A crookedness or warp.

19 votes

10.0%

An invisibility or seek.

66 votes

34.7%

7. Who is responsible for the “goatsucker” common name for whip-poor-wills and nighthawks?

190 answers

Plato

44 votes

23.2%

Aristotle

120 votes

63.2%

Confucius

26 votes

13.7%

8. Who wrote:
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.

189 answers

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Poet and Educator (1807-1882)

35 votes

18.5%

Robert Frost, Playwright, Author (1874-1963)

24 votes

12.7%

Henry David Thoreau, Writer (1817–62)

130 votes

68.8%

9. Like flycatchers and other insectivorous birds, whip-poor-wills have stiff, modified feathers around their mouth which may help in the capture of food in flight. What are these modified feathers called?

187 answers

Rectrices

37 votes

19.8%

Rictal bristle

113 votes

60.4%

Filoplumes

37 votes

19.8%

10. Sitting motionless and expertly camouflaged, whip-poor-wills are difficult to spot during the day. At night, however, they may reveal their presence, when, after hearing the near-by call, shining a light into the woods reveals the glow of the birds’ eyes. What color is a whip-poor-will’s eye shine?

185 answers

Yellow

72 votes

38.9%

Green

32 votes

17.3%

Orange-red

81 votes

43.8%

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