Eastern Whip-poor-will Photo Gallery

Adult

Round-headed nightjar with a stout chest. Patterned with a complicated mottling of gray and brown, which provides good camouflage. Note gray line of feathers on the back.

Adult

Note blackish throat bordered by thin white collar, large eyes, small bill, and whisker-like rictal bristles around the mouth.

Adult

Intricately patterned in gray and brown, which provides nearly perfect camouflage on leaf litter or tree bark. Blackish throat and white bib are conspicuous on singing birds on the rare occasion when they are observed during daylight.

Adult

Round-headed nightjar with line of gray feathers on the back. Females have small buffy tail corners and males have large white tail corners, visible in flight.

Adult

Typically roosts on limbs close to ground with body parallel to branch.

Active during the night; typically sleeps during the day, when its camouflaged plumage can make it very hard to spot.

Habitat

Can turn up in a variety of habitats, including dense undergrowth, during migration. Breeding habitat, however, is typically dry deciduous or mixed forest with little or no understory.