The Mysterious Folklore of the Whippoorwill
Does the whippoorwill drink goat鈥檚 milk? Does it foretell death, marriage, or woe? Can your aching back be cured by its call? Few birds have spun such a crazed web of mythology and myth-information. At the heart of this confusion and misdirection is a medium-size bird called the whippoorwill.
The Whippoorwill鈥檚 Woe
The merit or blame for this bird鈥檚 name belongs to Aristotle. The wise philosopher took a frivolous side trip into illogic to report a ridiculous story about the whippoorwill: 鈥淔lying to the udders of she-goats, it sucks them and so it gets its name,鈥 he reported.
It was probably the whippoorwills (or their crepuscular cousin, the nighthawks) that were snagging insects as the insects congregated around the thin-haired bellies of goats. But Aristotle鈥檚 authoritative nonsense stuck with the Caprimulgidae family (the Latin word comes from capri for 鈥済oat鈥 and mulgere 鈥渢o milk鈥), and one common name for the bird family is the inelegant 鈥済oatsucker.鈥
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About the Whippoorwill
In North America, whippoorwills range from eastern Texas to southern Canada and east to the Atlantic. The night is theirs, although in both daylight and dark the birds depend on their superb camouflage to see them through.
Whippoorwills do their courting after sunset. The male鈥檚 spring ritual is an elaborate one, involving strutting, throat-puffing, and a variety of noises designed to convince the silent female that he is the best mate among a forest swarming with calling males. It鈥檚 almost impossible for a spring woods traveler to escape the questionable music of one of the family to which the whippoorwill belongs. If you venture into a forest in the weeks ahead, keep an ear cocked for the whippoorwill鈥檚 call and be prepared to make a wish, do a somersault, or see the Moon in a frog pond.
鈻&苍产蝉辫;.
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.
鈥揌enry David Thoreau (1817鈥62), American Writer
Whippoorwill Folklore
Old wives worked overtime to whipstitch the tattered fabric of whippoorwill folklore. Here are some examples鈥
- When a single woman heard her first whippoorwill in springtime, she must have felt her heart lurch in panic, for if the bird did not call again, she would remain single for a year. If the birdsong continued, she was fated to remain single unless she had been quick-thinking and made a wish upon hearing the first call. If she kept that wish secret, she ultimately would be married.
- Whippoorwills singing near a house were an omen of death, or at least of bad luck.
- A man could rid himself of an aching back if he turned somersaults in time to whippoorwill calls.
- If an Omaha tribe Native American heard a whippoorwill鈥檚 called invitation, he or she was advised to decline it. If the bird then stopped calling, a person who had answered would die. But if the calls continued, the person would have a long life.
- The Colorado Utes believed that the whippoorwill was one of the gods of the night and could transform a frog into the Moon.
- The Iroquois believed that moccasin flowers were the shoes of whippoorwills.
Have you ever heard the call of a whippoorwill? Tell us about it in the comments below!
Joel M. Vance
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Yes I hear it most every night....
I heard a bird at night, approximately 3:45 AM whistling outside of my window. This went on for about 15 minutes and then I start looking up. What birds in Illinois make that sound. I didn鈥檛 realize there were so many out there until I went across information about death or a bad omen with an eastern whippoorwill, and then I listen to the sound, and it is exactly the sound of the bird that I鈥檓 hearing outside of my window. I suddenly felt panic pressure in my chest and the feeling of dread. Maybe it was due to the omen of someone dying close to you in the house or what not but it was enough for me to go check on my son. After 45 minutes, the bird has stopped, but this was the only experience I鈥檝e had with a bird of this nature in the wee hours of the morning. .
While growing up outside a very small town in Southeast Missouri we would always have windows open and only screen doors in the summer as we didn't have air conditioning. I still recall and completely long for the sound of a whippooorwills song on that back porch. My dream is that they are able to be plentiful in nature and never be lost.
I loved listening to them as a kid. They were plentiful where I lived. My parents had a rule that we couldn't go barefoot outdoors until the whipoorwills began singing. I never heard of them being a bad omen, unless it was heard in the daytime.
The Poorwill has been proven to be the only North American Bird that Hibernates their relative of the Whippoorwill and I have sena another close relative the Common Nighthawk all these birds feed on nighttime insects like Beetles and Moths as well as Mosquitos
We used to hear from regularly in our backyard in GA, but not for many years. Feral and domestic cats have shrunk suitable habitat for these birds drastically - they nest on the ground. What we hear now are Chuck-will's widows - sound very similar. My wish is that the Whippoorwill will recover. Create safe habitat areas for these wonderful birds of the night!
I had one use to set up near my window in Tarpon Springs Florida in the winter when I was a kid. Haven鈥檛 heard one in about 59 years, though.
I鈥檝e heard whippoorwills for years and years living in the country. I鈥檝e always been told (61 yrs) that when a whippoorwill sings it means it is not going to rain.
Tonight on 06/12/22 exactly at 9pm me and my husband were sitting on the couch watching Netflix when we both heard the whippoorwill and it sounded very close so we both got up looked out the window didn't see anything then proceeded to the front door where we opened it and the whippoorwill was sitting at the front door on the welcome mat. I'm so scared because I do not 100% understand the meaning of these birds from all the folklore I have read about its just so unsettling. If Anyone has any thoughts or suggestions that would be greatly appreciated!!
I have one in my backyard, comes here every Summer. I love the sound of their call. I think they must be calling out for a mate, maybe. Anyway, they eat all kind of bugs. I'm looking into building a home for them. Their houses look like very simple. These birds need shelter and are rare.
