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Sky Dancing

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Lang Elliot, www.musicofnature.com

Lang Elliot, www.musicofnature.com

The star of this week’s Phenology Note is the American Woodcock. Their stage is the spring sky at dusk.

These endearingly odd birds are known by many colorful colloquial names such as: timberdoodles, Labrador twisters, bogsuckers, and mudsnipes! Their breeding and foraging behaviors are just as quirky.

The tell-tale "peent"ing of the newly returned male birds can be heard in nearby pastures and fields (they started about 2 1/2 weeks earlier this year, compared to last spring, according to my records).

Our American Woodcock is actually a shorebird that is in the same taxonomic family as sandpipers (and turnstones, the subject of my graduate research). Unlike their coastal cousins, woodcock make their home in the forest, with the exception of their forays into the open to find a mate.

Observant souls who enjoy walking the countryside at dusk will often be treated to a male timberdoodle’s charming courtship display in a field or forest opening. Listen for the nasal-sounding peent, and then the sound of the air whistling through his stiff wings as he ascends in a spiral pattern hundreds of feet into the air. At the top of his climb he'll come plummeting back to the exact same spot from where he launched (warbling and twittering), and then he'll strut around (peenting) to show off for any hens that might be watching.

The father of wildlife ecology, Aldo Leopold, poetically described this behavior as a "sky dance".

In the quest to impress a female, these woodcock are completely unphased by the occasional spring snowfall, temporarily blanket fields and pastures. We could all take a lesson from the sky-dancing timberdoodles! Their unwavering, single-minded approach in the face of adversity is admirable.  They *know* it's spring, and they are just carrying on with life!

I hope you enjoyed this Phenology Note!

Join me in witnessing the seasons of our wild world.

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#ThePersonalEcologistI partner with eco-minded landowners to create thriving wildlife habitats in their backyards, gardens, fields and farms, woods or campuses - at any scale.I have 25 years of experience in my field, and a lifelong commitment to wi…

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Deborah Perkins