AUTHORS: Holly Coates, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; T.J. Benson, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; Mike Ward, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
ABSTRACT: Eastern Whip-poor-will are a species in steep decline, reliant upon early-to-intermediate-aged forests with moderate canopy cover across their life-history. With large-scale changes to Eastern US forest cover, structure, and composition across the past few centuries, silviculture and forest management regimes that produce intermediate canopy cover and basal area have been shown to be promising methods of increasing Eastern Whip-poor-will habitat, and promote their populations. We investigated the activity and percentage of time Eastern Whip-poor-will spend in differently-managed forests in the Midwest by using the natural ecological experiments created by management regime boundary lines, and an automated VHF-telemetry system. We were then able to generate more precise estimates on whip-poor-will habitat preferences, by correlating these values with prey abundance and a large suite of biotic and abiotic factors intrinsic to each forest management type.
