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Chuck-will's-widows





Well, its slowing down here in the piedmont of North Carolina.  It's amazing how
quickly the spring migration period peaks and tails off.  I guess the good news
is that the first southbound shorebirds are only about 6 weeks away!

The other evening Tracy mentioned that she had not seen a chuck for her year
list.  She did get to see the whip, and heard bunches of chucks, but no visual
sighting yet.  To rectify the situation we made the arduous 3-minute journey
from the house to the end of West Lake Road and parked in the middle of
Chuck-will's-Widow central.   We had about 6 birds calling from various
locations, joined on occasion by the single whip calling from his usual tree.
One thing that I noticed yet again was the incredible array of sounds the chucks
make.  We can come fairly close to predicting when a bird will fly from his
perch by the sounds we hear.  The flight is typically preceded by a rapid
acceleration in the typical song.  When the bird starts making a groaning sound
it is time to start looking overhead.  The groans sound a lot like some of the
sounds Common Ravens make.  It was pretty eerie the first time we heard this
loud moan coming at us from the woods!  The groan is usually followed by a
thumping sound that seems to synchronize with the wingbeats of the bird.  The
thumping usually lasts only a few seconds, and the rest of the flight is silent.
We also heard a new noise this past visit, most easily compared to a ball-peen
hammer striking a light metal.  It really gets interesting when a chuck flies in
to the location where a bird has been calling.  All sorts of grunts and
chattering.  Directions to the West Lake spot can be found in Will Cook's guide
to Triangle birding spots (http://www.duke.edu/~cwcook/tbg/westlake.html).  Just
continue 1/4 to 1/2 mile past the second pond.

Best,
Steve Shultz
Cary, NC
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