It is the season of the American Woodcock’s courtship flight; an active aerial dance. There is a location not far from my house that seems well suited for woodcocks; but, there are no reports of them being there. My eleven-year-old daughter, who is a budding birder, decided to brave the dark and cold to join me in search of a unique, night-time show.
We drove a mile down the street and parked the truck. We walked along the edge of an overgrown, orchard-like habitat, paralleling a river. It was difficult to listen for woodcocks with traffic from the nearby road and calls form the wave after wave of starlings, grackles and geese heading to night-time roosts.
We found an opening in the thicket, and just a few steps in, we were stunned to flush the very bird we came to find. We watched the camouflaged back and orangey under-side of an American Woodcock fly about 15 yards away and settle down. This, we decided, was a good spot. We sat on a rock waiting for sunset. As we waited, the traffic thinned and the noisy flocks of birds disappeared.
Five minutes after sunset, we heard the first “peent” of a male woodcock. It was about 20 yards away. Before long, another woodcock chimed-in with its “peent” about 15 yards away and to the right. A third one called much further away. Then the show began.
Peent…Peent…Peent.
With wings whistling, a bird silhouette spiraled up into the air. It disappeared in the dusky, overcast sky, climbing 200-300 feet circling in huge spirals and, with more frantic whistles, plunged back to the take-off point.
Peent…Peent…Peent.
Each bird followed this same pattern, waiting a few minutes between flights, to impress the ladies. It was very exciting to witness the courtship flight of American Woodcocks with my daughter at my side.
After about 30 minutes of dances, we slowly made our way back to the truck. This was not her first ‘cool’ birding experience near a busy road. She helped me find the rare occurrence of irruptive White-winged Crossbills in our area, two winters prior. She commented how so many people drive by very interesting birds all the time and have no idea what they are missing.
What kind of interesting roadside birds have you seen?
