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With 2026 upon us, I'm looking ahead to the return of Common Poorwills to the scrub oak thickets south of Denver. They'll be here by late April, in a short three and a half months or so. In that time, I hope to put the finishing touches on my book.
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What will it take to get there? This is the last opportunity that I have to make major additions or changes to the book. So I will revise it, then revise it again, then revise it some more. Once or twice, I'll read it out loud to myself to try to improve the sounds of the words and sentences. This will leave me a sore throat. It'll also leave me wondering how a Whip-poor-will can call his name so many times each night just to wake in the morning and sing again.
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All this by the time poorwills return and, hopefully, before nighthawks do the same in late-May!
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Once the manuscript is back to the publisher, the 9-12 month production process begins. The press will design a cover, and I'll work with a copyeditor to catch the many mistakes that slipped through the revision processes. I'll get an index made. We'll choose a title.
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I hope to have more regular updates for you as the production process unfolds. For now, though, I'll keep these updates seasonal, unless I have some news to share! So you can next expect an update when the nightjars return to Colorado, and the book (fingers crossed) is back to the NYU Press.
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The Book That Might Have Been. As I approach the end of writing this book, it's fun to look back on what might have been. Five winters ago, before I decided to write about Whip-poor-wills, I considered writing a few different books on animals and human culture. I planned one on "nuissance birds," like geese and pigeons. Fueled by insomnia and a daybreak encounter, I planned another on Bobcats, a more-common-than-we-realize predator in suburban areas. That badly lit photo above is of my first encounter with a Bobcat, which left me on my knees in a creek, a bubbling mix of tears and laughter at my bad sleep and good luck.
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2025 in review...
"Waiting for Whip-poor-wills" - The Academic Minute, WAMC Northeast Public Radio
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Back in February, 2025, The Academic Minute aired my audio essay, "Waiting for Whip-poor-wills." At the end of 2025, they selected it as one of their year's best segments. If you didn't hear it the first time, you can listen here.
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"This autumn, do nothing for biodiversity" - Denver Field Ornithologists
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For the autumn issue of The Lark Bunting, I wrote an essay advocating that we all do nothing to support biodiversity this autumn and winter. Do nothing? Yep, don't rake, clean up flower stems, dust spiderwebs...do nothing. If you're like me, and a bit lazy in the garden, the essay is still timely. You can read it here.
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Back in May, biologists at the University of Rhode Island published a fascinating article on Whip-poor-will nesting behavior. Using field cameras, they documented female Whip-poor-wills signing at nest sites. This is a rarely observed behavior and, until this study, behavior that wasn't definitively documented. They also captured incredible defensive displays and efforts by female Whip-poor-wills to protect nest sites. Among the most dramatic, and one that I write about in my book, is a female Whip-poor-will fending off an Eastern Milk Snake. You can watch the incredible video here.
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& looking ahead
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Later this month, I'll have an essay in The Lark Bunting on the many ways that birds have shaped the English language. I had great fun writing it, and I'll share it with you in my spring newsletter. I'm also working on an essay for The Lark Bunting on one of the stranger places you'll find birds: underground! (Yes, underground.)
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"To sleep where you may hear the whip-poor-will in your dreams!"
- Henry David Thoreau, 1851
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lonesomewhippoorwill.com
jared@lonesomewhippoorwill.com
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