Camouflaged, nocturnal, and elusive, nightjars are some of the least-studied birds on the continent. Surveys suggest that many species in the family, including the Eastern Whip-poor-will, are in sharp decline, and researchers in the Midwest want to uncover what’s driving the losses. Mike Ward, a University of Illinois ornithologist, is helping lead the charge. To better understand what the whip-poor-wills need to survive, for the past five years his team has surveyed Sand Ridge State Forest in central Illinois, one of the few known places where the species continues to thrive in the state. “There are still enough out there that if we figure out what’s going on,” Ward says, “we can probably turn around that trend pretty quickly if we do the right thing.”…