University of Kentucky - Whip-Poor-Will Research Project

TITLE: Habitat Use and Movement Ecology of Kentucky’s Eastern Whip-poor-wills ABSTRACT: Conservation of migratory forest birds like the eastern whip-poor-will (Antrostomus vociferus) that breed in eastern North America presents a number of challenges – both from the breeding and nonbreeding perspectives. Studying this species in particular is of enormous conservation importance because it has been experiencing drastic population declines. Until recently, breeding and nonbreeding periods have had to be studied separately – with breeding-centric studies, nonbreeding centric studies, and migration studies. However, the recent development of miniature GPS tag technologies allows for a more comprehensive examination of Kentucky’s eastern whip-poor-will populations. In addition to identifying migratory routes and non-breeding sites for a particular species, GPS tags that can be used on whip-poor- wills allows us to examine the extent to which carry-over effects may be present within Kentucky’s eastern whip-poor-wills. We propose a study to quantify both breeding season- and non-breeding season habitat use and movement ecology for Kentucky’s eastern whip-poor-wills.