Aerial Insectivores

The fastest declining guild of birds in North America is the aerial insectivores, birds that capture insects on the wing.  Despite this, we still know very little about the causes of these declines, and even some of the basic natural history of these populations.  Thus, research on aspects of their basic ecology, such as where populations migrate too, is critical to understanding and, hopefully, reversing these declines

The long rictal bristle feathers of this Eastern Whip-Poor-Will help it capture insects on the wing by expanding the capture area of the bill as it hawks out from a perch.

​Eastern Whip-Poor-Will

Together with Steve Matthews' lab here at the School of Environment and Natural Resources we have begun a study of the migratory behavior and connectivity of the Eastern Whip-Poor-Will.  This is a fascinating species, you have probably heard but never seen, giving their distinctive calls (whip-poor-will, whip-poor-will) near a campsite or on an evening hike.  They are nocturnal aerial insectivores, feeding on moths and other night-flying insects, that migrate to the Neotropics in the winter.  We don't know where different populations winter, and if and where they make migratory stopovers in Fall and Spring.  Thus, we deployed highly acuarate GPS loggers on birds breeding in NW (Oak Openings Metropark) and SE (Vinton Furnace State Experimental Forest ​) Ohio.  We are also collaborating with other projects in the breeding range to get a more complete picture of the migratory patterns of this species.

Lab member Jay Wright attaches a GPS logger to a male Eastern Whip-Poor-Will. This device will take up to 80 locations with as good as 5m accuaracy over the next year.