- The Mexican Whip-poor-will (Antrostomus Arizonae) is a secretive, nocturnal nightjar that arrives in the mountain forests of southern Arizona as an uncommon summer resident from April through September - Though incredibly difficult to spot during the day due to its masterful brown, gray, and black camouflage, it is famously known for its loud, rolling, and trilled "pur-ple-riiip" or "whip-poor-WILL" call that echoes continuously through wooded canyons at dusk, dawn, and on moonlit nights - To hear or look for this cryptic nightbird, head to pine-oak woodlands and wooded canyons at higher elevations (generally between 5,500 and 6,500 feet) within the region's prominent "Sky Island" mountain ranges: Santa Catalina Mountains : Listen along the upper stretches of the mountain, particularly around General Hitchcock Campground and Bear Canyon on Mt. Lemmon ... Santa Rita Mountains : Madera Canyon offers excellent forested canyon habitat where males sing...