Whip-Poor-Will heard in garden
Last night we were watching TV and could hear a strange noise from outside. We went out onto the deck and could hear a strange call coming out from the wooded area round our house. It was extremely loud and very unusual, so much so I recored the sound so that I could try to find out what it was.
At first we thought it might be a frog or toad as we have lots of them about, but after sitting at the computer for a while listening to examples of toad calls across Ontario it became apparent we either had a very rare one or it was not a toad. Next I looked for birds, but as it was late at night and very dark we could not see the bird, so only had the sound to go by.
More time on the internet came up with nothing, then I had a brainwave and searched for nocturnal birds in Ontario. One of the first I found was something called the Whip-Poor-Will and when I found an example of its call, that was it. So, we have a Whip-poor-Will nearby. Apparently they are nocturnal and eat insects and moths on the wing. They nest on the ground in woodland, so hopefully we have a pair and will continue to hear this strange bird call which sounds just like the name suggests.
If you go to this webpage you can click on the link to hear the sound – really unusual!
http://www.kwic.com/~pagodavista/schoolhouse/species/birds/wiporwil.htm
