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For the past few months, I've been writing about the emotions we hear in the song of Whip-poor-wills. Is the song sad and lonesome, as generations of country and indie singers heard it? Or is it a cheery song that keeps us company during summer nights, as Audubon had it? And what do we feel when their song disappears from our landscapes? (The short answer: grief and nostalgia.)
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The research for this chapter introduced me to a once-beloved song about the species: Harrison Millard's "The Whip-poor-will's Song." Written in 1865, Millard's song has young lovers planning their summer rendevous by the night's first call of a Whip-poor-will. Millard's Whip-poor-will doesn't seem to sing with the sadness, regret, or lonesomeness invoked in more modern songs, like Hank Williams' "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" or Dolly Parton's "My Blue Ridge Mountain Boy." His bird gathers people together. And even when they've grown apart, the song of a Whip-poor-will brings them back, at least in memory.
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"The Whip-poor-will's Song" was popular with fiction writers who incorporated its lyrics into late 19th and early 20th-century love stories. It was also commonly performed at community concerts. And it was occasionally covered by country music performers into the mid-20th century. A century-long run! Not bad.
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As far as I know, only a few 20th-century recordings of the song endure. Take a listen to this 1934 recording by Skyland Scotty or this 1965 recording, complete with Whip-poor-will-like whistling, by Lulu Belle and Scotty.
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Recent
In October, I published an essay with The Conversation on the disappearance of Whip-poor-wills from American horror fiction and film. JSTOR Daily reposted it with free links to the historical and ornithological studies I referenced in the essay. You can read it here.
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and upcoming...
I have a trio of upcoming talks on nightjars and culture. All are free, open to the public, and online.
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January 14 (8:00 PM MST) - University of Denver's Enrichment Program. Register here.
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February 20 (7:00 PM MST) - Colorado Field Ornithologists. More here.
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March 10 (7:00 PM EST) - Sarasota Audubon. Note: time Eastern. More here.
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Registration for the February and March events will become available over the next little while.
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Northeast Public Radio. Listen for my audio essay on Whip-poor-wills on Northeast Public Radio's program, The Academic Minute. It'll run sometime in in early 2025. I'll share the date and time when I have them!
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Next year! To keep you informed of upcoming talks, publications, and news, this newsletter will become monthly-ish in 2025 and 2026. I'll send it out around the full moon, to keep us all on the Whip-poor-will's schedule.
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What I'm Reading
Gabriel Dunsmith's haunting poem "Upon My Return to Appalachia" invokes themes that I'm writing about now: ecological change, loss, and our sense of place.
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Put a Nightjar on It!
Looking for a gift for the nightjar enthusiast in your life? Check out these incredible artists.
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- Renkstudio - Blood Moon, Whip-poor-will, Moth print.
- Restoration Acres - "Home is Where the Whip-poor-will Sings" stickers and t-shirt.
- Prairie Moon - The midwest's premier provider of native wildflower seeds has a "Choose Native Plants" sticker featuring a Common Nighthawk.
- Global Nightjar Network - The Global Nightjar Network is an international group of conservationists, ornithologists, and nightjar-aligned people (like me!). The purchase of their t-shirt or mug support the network's ability to support biologists studying the bird.
- SmilingSnake - "Head like a hole" t-shirt, featuring a Whip-poor-will and silk moth.
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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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