KINGSTON, R.I. – July 28, 2025 – Known for their haunting, distinctive singing—a repetitive “whip-poor-will” call that echoes through summer nights—Eastern Whip-poor-wills have long inspired folklore, often seen as omens or symbols of mystery. Their elusive, nocturnal nature and expert camouflage make them far easier to hear than to see. Liam Corcoran ’18 M.S. ’25, a recent graduate of the University of Rhode Island’s interdisciplinary Biological and Environmental Sciences (BES) master’s program from Warwick, Rhode Island, is working to demystify this bird through science.

Wild populations have declined precipitously since 1970. Because of their nocturnal activity and cryptic nature, very few researchers have focused on whip-poor-wills’ nesting habits. New research from Corcoran published in The Wilson Journal of Ornithology offers the first published growth data for whip-poor-wills, contributing critical baseline information for future ecological and conservation research. 

Extensive video documentation captured and analyzed by Corcoran shows how males and females interact at the nest, regularly conducting a coordinated courtship-like display, and how adult birds engage in active nest defense from potential predators. While there have been past anecdotal reports of female whip-poor-wills potentially singing, Corcoran’s research provides the first video confirmation that females do indeed sing.

Prior to Corcoran’s work, no one had focused on chick growth. Thanks to his efforts, scientists now have a way to estimate chick age based on both measurements and plumage which can help identify the whole history of a nest, from nest initiation to hatching to fledging (when young birds first take flight).

“I hope this research serves as a starting point and that chick growth may be further studied throughout the whip-poor-will breeding range,” Corcoran says. “I also hope the predictive tools that came out of this research prove useful to researchers looking to estimate the age of chicks.”

For this research, Corcoran placed trail cameras at whip-poor-will nests found at three state management areas in Rhode Island–Arcadia, Great Swamp, and Tillinghast–as well as at the Nature Conservancy’s Francis Carter Preserve and the Audubon Society of Rhode Island’s Marion Eppley Wildlife Refuge. He documented unique behaviors of paired males and females, interactions with predators, and chick growth.

“Capturing not one but four female whip-poor-wills singing the male song while on nest surprised me,” Corcoran says. “I was also very surprised to see how much whip-poor-wills perceived slugs and millipedes as potential threats. By far the most fulfilling part of this research was getting to know these birds on such a personal level.”

“I’m happy I was able to capture so many interesting and unique behaviors on the trail cameras,” he adds, “like a courtship-like display that males and females regularly engage in at the nest and females singing while on nest.”

After earning an undergraduate degree in wildlife and conservation biology, Corcoran continued to work in Professor Scott McWilliams’s lab and assist in conducting fieldwork. 

“While working as a field technician with the Rhode Island state herpetologist at the Division of Fish and Wildlife, an opportunity to apply for a graduate position in Professor McWilliams’ lab came about and I decided to give it a shot,” Corcoran says. In August of this year, he completed his M.S. in the Ecology and Ecosystems Science concentration of the BES program. 

For this research, Corcoran worked with McWilliams and Megan Gray, also a master’s student in BES. 

“I have dreamed of working with this species since I saw my first whip-poor-will,” Corcoran says, “and it was an absolute privilege to be able to see the inner workings of how whip-poor-wills behave around the nest and rear chicks.”

This story was written by Anna Gray in the College of the Environment and Life Sciences.