Whip-poor-will (Finally!), Tall Pines Wildlife Management Area, SC, May 11, 2022

When I moved to the western NC mountains in 2019 I put together lists of possible new statebirds not only in NC, but also in the neighboring states of SC, GA, TN, and VA.  The SC stateline is only a 30-minute drive from home, so I’ve spent almost as much time working on my SC list as I have my NC list.  As a result, I’ve been slowly chipping away at my SC targets, especially those in the nearby upstate portion of the state.  Entering 2022 I had seen 39 of my 45 realistic upstate SC opportunities. 

Conspicuous on my remaining SC Needs List was Whip-poor-will.  This goatsucker is actually quite common in the upstate, as is Chuck-will’s-widow, though I had that one on the SC coast years ago.  I had several reliable spots for Whips within 45 minutes of home.  So what was the hold up?  I just hadn’t done any nocturnal birding in the area.  Pretty tough to find a goatsucker when you’re only doing diurnal birding.

But all of that changed in Spring 2022.  Two of my birding friends from New England were coming for visits to do some birding in the area.  First was David Donsker whose target list included hearing and hopefully seeing Whip-poor-wills.  Then after David’s visit Chris McPherson was coming to the area to obtain recordings of a number of species including Chuck-will’s-widow.  Those visits would give me two opportunities to not only help my friends with their targets, but also to finally add Whip to my SC list. 

Now I had to find the best places to listen and hopefully look for them.  A couple of my SC birding friends have routinely gone to Tall Pines Wildlife Management Area for both species.  And with a little eBird research I could see that both species were regular there.  I’ve also had both goatsuckers about the same distance away in Polk County in NC, but the Tall Pines site was in SC so that would give all of us a chance to check off our targets.  So Tall Pines WMA it was.

On the evening of May 3rd I went with David Donsker to Tall Pines for my first recent nocturnal birding in SC.  I was told that the area around the parking lot was likely the best for Whips, and the nearby power line cut was best for Chucks.  So our plan was to start at the parking lot and get the Whips, then head to the power lines for Chucks.  Yes, we were quite optimistic.  

As David and I waited for dusk, we talked about how important the phase of the moon might actually be to hear our targets.  Many birders talk about the fact that goatsuckers are more active when there’s a bright moon, but I’ve never quite believed in that theory.  Afterall, they have to feed every night, don’t they?  Well as luck would have it, on the 3rd there was only a sliver of a moon, so this might be a good test of the importance of the phase of the moon. 

Sunset was at 8:17, and we hoped to hear our first Whip-poor-will calls perhaps 20 minutes later.  It was a warm and very quiet night with no wind, so conditions were great.  But by 9:00 we still had heard no calls and decided to head over to the power line cut just a mile and half away.  We spent another 5 minutes there but again had no luck.  As we drove home I had plenty of time to wonder if the lack of a bright moon was the reason why we were unsuccessful. 

Chris McPherson arrived in town the following week, and we planned to try for his target Chuck-will’s-widows on the 11th.  I wondered about going to a different spot to try for them, but my research kept comping back to Tall Pines as the best spot.  At least historically.  The moon would be about 80% full, with peak brightness about 10 PM, so that should help in our search.  Assuming that’s an important factor at all.

On the evening of the 11th we went right to the power line cut especially to focus on Chris’ target Chucks.  Before sunset we had some very nice birding, including cooperative Summer Tanagers, Chats, and Brown-headed Nuthatches which Chris recorded.  By sunset at 8:23 we were back at the car to start our vigil.  It was another warm and still night with next to no road noise, just like the 3rd.  But this time there was a bright moon overhead.  And sure enough at 8:34 we heard the first of at least 3 Chuck-will’s-widows.  Here is a link to our eBird checklist including Chris’ excellent recording –

North Carolina Bird Atlas Checklist - 11 May 2022 - Tall Pines WMA - 5 species (ebird.org)

And since it was still quite bright we watched the skies to try for some visuals.  Luckily we were able to spot Chucks fly by two different times as they passed through the power line cut. 

Now that we had Chris’ target, I wondered if we should head over to the WMA parking lot to try for Whips.  But it turned out we were just fine where we were, because at 8:47 a Whip-poor-will started to sing a short distance away.  We both had our respective targets at the same spot.  Nice when it works out that way. 

Whip-poor-will was #292 for my SC state list.  In my statebird map below, the blue states are those where I’ve seen this species and the cross-hatched ones are those in its regular range where I still need it.  Still a lot more to go, including in nearby southeastern states.  Time to do some more nocturnal birding.  And I guess I should stick with those nights when there is a bright moon.