So exciting! I don't think we have them nesting here, but we see them flying overhead near dusk (distinctive wing pattern from below) and sometimes hear them. We had one stop for a bit several years ago on the patio between the ell and the main house and it was incredibly loud in relation to its size!

I'll have to check about the wing pattern. We might have overlooked seeing one thinking it might be barn swallows. There was a time when we had hundreds of bats. Hopefully, that time will come again.

Oh, I hope they're coming back! When I was a kid we'd hear them at night calling and responding from different directions.

We have coyotes and foxes, though, so it may not happen.

Claire

Defrost, we have been waiting for ours, and a few nights ago, well....about 2am....there it was, waking me up as usual! LOL! We have had them for a number of years, and come to think of it, our coyotes have also been gone for years. They really like the slates in the cottage garden and outside our bedroom window. An excellent spot for them to sit and sing their hearts out at 2am! There are quite a few summer nights when we don't get much sleep, but they are such sweet birds. We feel priveledged that they come to sing us to sleep. Or rather, sing us awake! I'm so happy to hear that you have one visiting now!

We used to hear frequent yapping choruses from packs of coyotes and, frankly, sometimes it was a chilling sound to me. My husband spotted one recently but from facebook posts, I know they have been hunted in our area which I was sad to see. Glad to hear your Whip-Poor-Will is back again, Thyme2dig. I think our new replacement windows deaden outdoor sounds and more people will hear them when we leave our windows open all the time.