Hot stops: Timing, pathways, and habitat selection of migrating Eastern Whip-poor-wills

Although miniaturized data loggers allow new insights into avian migration, incomplete knowledge of basic patterns persists, especially for nightjars. Using GPS data loggers, this study examined migration ecology of the Eastern whip-poor-will (Antrostomus vociferus), across three migration strategies: flyover, short-stay, and long-stay. We documented migration movements, conducted hotspot analyses, quantified land cover within 1-km and 5-km buffers at used and available locations, and modeled habitat selection during migration. From 2018-2020 we captured breeding whip-poor-wills from three study sites in Massachusetts and programmed GPS tags to collect data during fall and spring migration periods. Across 19 individual males (nine of them with repeated years of data), GPS tags collected 479 locations, where 30% were classified as flyover points, 33% as short-stays, and 37% as long-stay locations. We documented seasonal flexibility in migration duration, routes, and stopover locations am...