Two Eastern Whip Poor Will surveys completed

Black Bears, Prescott Peninsula, New Salem, MA, Jun 12, 2017

Black Bears, Prescott Peninsula, New Salem, MA, Jun 12, 2017

I recently completed my second Eastern Whip Poor Will survey on Monday night on the restricted access Prescott Peninsula at Quabbin. Although I was tired from work the day before the conditions were right so I decided to give it a try before the window of opportunity closed for the season. The surveys have particular conditions that must be met before they can be run including fairly clear conditions, no wind, moonlight and within the time period at the end of May through mid June. Getting all these conditions to line up can be quite difficult but Monday night met the criteria. I was joined this year by Devin...always nice to have another person along when exploring the rather remote peninsula. The survey starts about 15 minutes after sunset and covers ten count locations located one mile apart. Each stop involves passive listening for six minutes before moving on to the next stop. During this survey we tallied a total of 15 Eastern Whip Poor Wills with 11 of those at one of the ten designated stops (the others came midway between stops). This is the highest overall total I have ever recorded on this now six year old survey route. Once again the birds were concentrated on the lower end of the peninsula. The following were recorded during previous surveys:

2012- 9 total individuals with 7 at survey stops
2013- 9 total individuals, all at survey stops
2014- 7 total individuals, all at survey stops
2015- 10 total individuals with 7 at survey stops
2016- 10 total individuals with 7 at survey stops

Besides the Eastern Whip Poor Wills we had a number of other notable sightings including calling Barred Owl, Northern Saw Whet Owl and Common Loon at stop #7 just before 10PM. Mammal highlights included a family group of Black Bears with a radio collared mother bear and three cubs, a single Moose and a few White tailed Deer plus a very vocal Red Squirrel scolding at something after it was dark.

I completed my other whip poor will survey at Quabbin Park and points south last Thursday night. This survey also produced a record setting total for the route with 19 total whips heard with 15 of those at established survey stops. Totals for the now five year old route are listed below:

2013- 6 total individuals with 5 at survey stops
2014- 14 total individuals, all at survey stops
2015- 13 total individuals with 11 at survey stops
2016- 6 total individuals, all at survey stops
2017- 19 total individuals with 15 at survey stops

American Robin with leg bands, Home, Belchertown, MA, Jun 10, 2017

Eastern Phoebe with leg bands, Home, Belchertown, MA, Jun 12, 2017

American Robin fledgling, Home, Belchertown, MA, Jun 11, 2017

Opossum, Home, Belchertown, MA, Jun 12, 2017

The motion camera at home continue to capture lots of activity at the water feature, both night and day.