Toodling around Belleplain by bike this evening - okay, not toodling, cranking, trying to rebuild some form of capacity post knee surgery, what a freaking job that is - I heard several Whip-poor-wills right at dusk. It being the end of August, I thought that notable, though I learned when I got home that Whips call through September, at least so says David Sibley in The Birds of Cape May. Didn't know that, since I don't live where whips are and normally don't go to places like Belleplain much past July.
What really brought me up short, though, was Sibley talking about how Witmer Stone (Bird Studies at Old Cape May) characterized Whip-poor-will as common throughout Cape May County, including Cape May Point, which certainly is no longer true. So I fished out my Stone, and found this gem:
"Charles Page who for several reasons occupied a little cabin directly in the woods had an abundance of Whip-poor-wills immediately about his door and even on his roof. . . "
Interesting about the abundance, but what I really want to know about is the "several reasons. . ."
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