We get hoards of birds as I prioritize my land stewardship to help them, but I have only had one whip-or-will pass through one year. By the time my brain clicked on what I was hearing, it had moved on. I love them almost as much as I love the sounds of Loons.

I put up an owl-house for our screech owls, but so far they have refused to use it. Instead two years ago I got honeybees in it instead, which was cool except it started me down the path of bee-keeping which has become another irritant. (new thread for that one)

A lot of the birds mentioned in this thread I see commonly due to the varied cover I provide and the lack of regular mowing except in late fall I do in most areas of the property.

One of the most interesting birds my wife and I have seen in the field are the woodcocks. They are closely related to the whip-or-wills but have an amazing mating "dance" which is to be seen to believe.

What's cool is the pond is bringing in those additional water birds we never before got on our property like geese and killdeer, and we are hoping for some ducks and if really lucky mergansers and/or osprey. Both are in the area, but our pond is probably a bit too small to bring them in.