Waking Up with a Whip-poor-will

While opening mist nets this past Sunday morning at the Kiawah Island Banding Station, I was shocked to hear the song of a nearby Eastern Whip-poor-will. My first instinct was to ask one of the banding technicians near me if he was playing a recording. "Nope. You?", he responded. It wasn't me. Even though I used to have an Eastern Whip-poor-will ringtone, my phone hadn't rung, and no one else was near us. I continued to open up the nets, and again, the bird began singing from the same location. "What the heck is going on?", I asked myself. Why was this bird singing in the middle of post-breeding migration in an area where it doesn't winter?
As I pondered this non-breeding singing question, I ran into the other banding technicians who were finished opening nets. They, too, had heard the whip-poor-will. "Good. I'm not crazy or still sleeping", I sighed.
During our first net run that morning, we found the whip-poor-will in the mist net near where it was singing. This was the second Eastern Whip-poor-will caught at our banding station and by far the bird of the day.

Over the last few days, I have meditated on the question I asked myself Sunday morning when I first encountered the whip-poor-will: Why was the bird singing during its post-breeding migration?
I know that some bird species sing on their wintering grounds and even during their pre-breeding migration. But I can't recall ever reading or hearing of birds singing during their post-breeding migration.
Birds that sing outside of the breeding season may do so for one or several reasons: 1) elevated plasma testosterone levels in males cause them to continue singing, 2) to establish and defend territories on their wintering grounds, 3) to maintain social status/dominance hierarchies within the flock (for birds that flock together during migration or winter), or 4) to maintain flock cohesion.

While it is possible (isn't anything?), I am almost certain the whip-poor-will I heard will not be overwintering here on Kiawah Island, SC. Thus, it is doubtful the song I heard was intended to establish and/or defend a wintering territory.
From what I've read, whip-poor-wills form loose flocks during migration. So it is possible the song I heard may have been communicating a message of social status or presence to other flock members. (It's worth noting that we didn't catch, see, or hear any other Eastern Whip-poor-wills that morning or since then).
Perhaps the singing whip-poor-will that I and others heard was a male doing what his testosterone "instructed" him to do. A slave to his hormones.

In their book "Nightjars: A Guide to Nightjars and Related Birds", Cleere and Durney (1998) state that the Whip-poor-will (Caprimulgus vociferus) "[sings] briefly during migration".  The authors don't tell us is which migration: pre-breeding or post-breeding. Do the birds sing during both migrations?

I plan to post my observation (and question) on the relative online discussion boards and await responses. I'll keep y'all updated when I learn something new.

Bobolink Flyover

While walking to the bird banding station this morning on Captain Sam's Spit, Aaron pointed out a Bobolink after it let out a flight call.
While they do not breed around here, we do occasionally see a Bobolink or two during spring and fall migrations.
I personally have not seen a live Bobolink on Kiawah Island since the spring of 2009. That is when I started working as a Naturalist for the Kiawah Island Nature Program. I can vividly recall hearing dozens of Bobolinks in the live oaks around the Nature Center at Night Heron Park. The distinctive song of the male Bobolink is hard to forget, as it sounds like a sped-up cassette tape.

Maybe we will get lucky and catch some of these fantastic birds at the banding station.

A decent place to look for Bobolinks on Kiawah Island is all the way out at the Ocean Course (east end of the island), especially on the front 9 holes behind the dunes.