Episode 165: Chuck-Will’s-Widow under the Lyrids
Recorded on April 23, 2026 on the sleeping porch at the dogtrot, this is the sound of night under the Lyrid meteor shower. Crickets and Southern Cricket Frogs provide a steady rhythm, joined by the kowlp-kowlp-kowlp call of a Yellow-billed Cuckoo, a caterwauling chorus from a nearby Barred Owl pair and the rolling call of a Chuck-will’s-widow, returned to Heart Place in the woods at the edge of Kingfisher Pond.
Sounds Southern Extended listeners will hear over an hour of the Chuck-will’s-widow’s calls, along with distant coyote barks and howls, the soft rhythmic movement of an opossum brushing through the grasses in search of a nighttime meal and pausing to drink from the wildlife water feature. Other nocturnal calls include the occasional honk of a Canada Goose and the peent call of a Common Nighthawk plus psitherism moving through the oak trees in the pasture. This recording is best heard in a quiet setting.