Last week on one of the warm days, I went up on our land in the utility vehicle to collect manure for the garden. On the way back, I took the old logging road through the woods. All of a sudden a bird flew up in front of the vehicle. I turned around to see an American Woodcock....
Can you see it, right there in the middle. The only reason I was able to see him was that he was breathing so hard, I could see his chest heaving. I cropped the photo below...
Not the best angle and I did not have the telephoto zoom lens but still I was excited to get a photo of him. He sat there for awhile while I watched. Then, Kookie, our dog, came back to check on me as she does when I stop. I got out and held her by the collar. The Woodcock slowly walked in the opposite direction and across the road. I made Kookie get in the back and drove back to the house.
The woodcock will do his mating calls and courtship flights at dusk about now so I want to try walking in our woods by myself to catch this display.
The last time I saw a woodcock was in the late 80s when I was driving down our driveway early in the morning. There was a woodcock right in the middle of the driveway, still for awhile until I got out of the car for a closer look. I had to look it up then but this time I knew exactly what it was.
