The Flight of the Timberdoodle

Tonight, we went out to Black Dog Fens to see the displaying American Woodcock (aka Timberdoodle).  Last year, we wanted to see the timberdoodle, but we got rained out of the several times that we tried to see them.  This year, we were determined to see them, so we thought we'd start early in the season to give ourselves plenty of chances.  Tonight, the weather looked good (high of 64 during the day, no rain until tomorrow), so we headed down there to try to see them.

As we started walking through the preserve, it was just about sunset.  The western sky was lit up with a pink wash.  As we walked in, we heard many American Robins singing.  Ducks streaked across the sky, looking for a place to spend the night.  Then, off in the distance, I heard a faint "peent".  It was a fair ways ahead of us on the trail, so we continued to walk.  As we went along, we started hearing more and more "peents" from different areas of the fen.  We finally reached a part of the trail where it seemed like one woodcock was closer to river than we were, and one was farther away.  We stopped to listen and wait.

The birds continued to "peent" from the ground, warming up for their dramatic flight displays.  We heard a few "yip yips" in the distance that we took to be coyotes.  Then, we heard a twittering sound, and we spot a woodcock flying through the air.  The wings seem to be going a mile a minute, and in silhouette, the bird looks like a bat with a giant, heavy body.  That first woodcock spirals up in the air, using its wings to create the twittering sound.  As it nears the top of its flight path, the twittering begins to pulse, with bursts of twittering followed by apparent silence.

Then, the timberdoodle descends extremely rapidly.  He comes down quickly, but not evenly.  The birds I observed seemed to make one steep dive, then take a break in the middle, then dive again quickly.  After that they leveled off and landed on the ground.  At first, the birds are fairly easy to track.  But then, after a few rounds of flight display, I can't follow their flight with the naked eye.  It is too dark for me to see them at the high point of their flight display.  I lose sight of them before they start diving.  With the binoculars though, I can still follow them through the whole display.  

After we've watched for a while, we decide to start heading back for the car.  We walk along, but the woodcock are still peenting.  After a bit, I hear a loud peent that is just behind us.  I sense that it is close and head back for a look.  I turn on my headlamp, and catch a glimpse of shine.  That is the timberdoodle's eye!  A closer look reveals the bird is right on the path!

If you'd like to see what the woodcock looks like as it peents on the ground, check out the video here.  Go here for some good recordings of both the flight sounds and the peenting.