Timberdoodle

Now is the time to get out and look for the American Woodcock as it does its twilight courtship flight in our region. Once known as the Timberdoodle, a name with various guesses as to its origins, the woodcock’s courtship begins with a series of peeent calls in all directions. Then, without warning, he takes flight in a wide arc rising into a tight spiral as its feathers create a whir of twitters and whistles as he gains altitude, rising high into the sky. He them tumbles and warbles his way back to Earth spreading his wings to land awkwardly… then repeats the ritual well into darkness.