After several successful years of monitoring efforts to quantifying this bird's distribution and abundance within the state, the project is expanding to examine significant knowledge gaps in several areas of this bird’s life history and breeding biology in Maine.

 

We know little to nothing about reproductive success, nest predation rates, and diet composition of whip-poor-will on their breeding grounds within Maine. We know even less about the migratory ecology of Maine’s whip-poor-wills, missing fundamental details on migratory timings, pathways, migratory connectivity, stopover locations, and potential threats.

 

This project aims to complement ongoing monitoring efforts to gather critically needed data in these areas of whip-poor-will ecology. Alongside our partners at the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife and the Biodiversity Research Institute, we are launching a pilot effort in 2024 to initiate both nesting ground surveys and movement studies in subregions within the state targeting Eastern whip-poor-will. These complementary research pursuits will generate a wealth of knowledge in several currently unknown aspects of Maine’s nightjar ecology to inform their management within the state.