Woodcock Walk

I attended a woodcock walk which was hosted by a local park.

I learned some neat facts about these strange birds

and the naturalist brought along some mounts of the bird

so we could see them up close.

The woodcock is a stocky bird

 with a long slender bill & large eyes.

Its black & brown speckled plumage is perfect camouflage 

as they probe in mud looking for earthworms.  

 

 

IN the Spring, the male woodcock does aerial displays

 at dusk & dawn.

 He flies upward in a spiral as high as 500 feet,

 his wings twittering, 

then descends in a zigzag,

 diving pattern until he lands near a female.

 

 

He has a peculiar "peenting" call which I was able to capture on this video.

 

We did see one aerial display,

 but as you can see from the video, 

it was too dark to film.