The last sloppy snowstorm of the past winter fell in late March and brought with it an unusual visitor to our yard: an American Woodcock. Woodcocks are the oddest-looking birds, with a rather dumpy body, a long dagger of a bill, and big, dark eyes set far back in it head. It is an uncommonly encountered bird. I may have seen less than 10 in my lifetime. One of the first was in Chisago County in the late 1980s. Wild River Audubon member Tom Anderson knew of a patch of open field where male woodcocks performed their showy aerial courtship flights and offered his guiding services at the chapter’s annual silent auction. My husband and I put a bid in on this and won. Later in April, the Andersons and the Leafs and five children under the age of six went out east of Harris, Minnesota to watch the show.
The little guy in our driveway this past March was a migrator, making its way back north after a winter spent in the southern US. Woodcocks are shorebirds, like sandpipers and plover, but they live in young forests and shrubby, early-succession old fields. Like their nearest kin, they use the long, dagger-like bill to drill into the substrate, but these terrestrial birds dine mostly on earthworms and secondarily on other soil invertebrates like snails, millipedes, spiders and ants.
Woodcocks are ground nesters, making a shallow depression in the leaf litter and depositing one to five eggs in it which the female will incubate for 20-22 days. Only the female is involved in incubation and care of young. Their camouflaged plumage allows them to be close sitters. They flush from a nest only at the last minute. It is possible to pass very close to a nest without seeing it.
The male woodcock uses an elaborate aerial display to attract a mate. He emits a nasal “peent” while on the ground, then rockets skyward to a height of 200-350 feet, closes his wings and plunges to earth in a spiral, wings whistling as air penetrates their recesses. He repeats this display over and over at dusk. Unlike many species that display on dancing grounds, male woodcocks display on several grounds, and will mate with multiple females. Females, for their part, visit four or more grounds, and will appear at the show even after incubation of eggs has begun.
The American Woodcock exhibits an unusual behavior in keeping with its odd appearance. The birds at times perform “a highly conspicuous rocking motion,” according to naturalist Bernd Heinrich. We saw our March visitor do this. It carefully planted its feet, one after another, and bobbed up and down, back and forth, unique unto its species. To see a video clip of this set to music (because who can resist?) click here.
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