[SEMCO] Cape Cod Bird Club Meeting January 11, whip-poor-wills

[Cynthia Franklin]

Cape Cod Bird Club monthly meetings are held on the second Monday of
every month at 7:30 p.m. from September through May at the Cape Cod
Museum of Natural History <http://www.ccmnh.org/> ,  869 Rte. 6A, in
Brewster, MA.  Meetings are free and open to the public. The January 11
meeting will feature speaker John Kelly on "Whip-poor-wills on Camp
Edwards"

The whip-poor-will (Caprimulgus vociferus) is a ten-inch long, nocturnal
bird that gets its name from its rhythmic "whip-poor- will" sounding
call that is repeated over and over. A migratory bird, the
whip-poor-will arrives on Camp Edwards in late May and departs beginning
at the end of August. Their summer range extends from Southern Canada to
the Southern United States, and in the mountains as far south as Mexico,
while their winter range stretches from the Gulf of Mexico to Honduras.
While Camp Edwards has a relatively large population of whip-poor-wills,
the species is declining in the rest of the state. Because of this, Camp
Edwards has taken on the responsibility of investigating the reasons
behind the difference in population size.  This is the final year of a
five year study of the macro and micro habitat requirements of the
whip-poor-will.

John Kelly, Natural Resource Manager for the Massachusetts Army National
Guard, will present a program of the Natural Resource Office's ongoing
study at the base. He and his team have placed transmitters on 10 birds
per year, tracking them during the day for roosting data and at night
for foraging information. The study is an effort to understand this
bird's special needs and arrangement in the training area of Camp
Edwards. They hope to be able to apply this information over a broader
scale, to aid in its conservation. A great program about a seldom-seen
bird!.



 

		

Cynthia Franklin

For Cape Cod Bird Club

 

Mass Audubon/Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary

email: cfranklin at massaudubon.org <mailto:cfranklin at massaudubon.org> 

 

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