American Woodcock





American Woodcock

Originally uploaded by woodcreeper.

With the rise in evening temperature over the last two weeks, the Woodcocks have made their presence known. A very secretive and well camouflaged resident and migrant of New Jersey, the American Woodcock blends in easily with the under-story and can go unnoticed save for its explosive flight from underfoot should you almost step on one. Eyes situated almost behind their head, they have better vision behind them than in front of them…which I guess helps see your foot!

Of course, the other time you might be fortunate enough to see a woodcock (or Timber doodle, as they’re also called) is during their elaborate nuptial display flights. We’re pretty lucky in that we have a nice wet field adjacent to the woods behind our house, and so we get a few woodcocks each year, strutting their stuff on the ground, and taking flight in a whirring, twittering display. It’s both wonderful and comical.
Last night I was able to record one bird doing his typical “Peent” call. I had positioned myself in the field just before dark, on the edge of some cedar trees so that I could “blend in” as much as someone as imposing as myself can blend into a field. Just before it got too dark to see, a woodcock came flying across the field, banked slightly toward me about 10 feet away, and coasted into the bare area of field just 5 feet away from where I was seated. I was shocked! There was a tiny little cedar tree in between the bird and myself (about 1 foot tall) and I couldn’t see the bird. I decided this was okay, because it probably couldn’t see me either…so I pointed the microphone at it and waited.

A few seconds later I heard this guttural sound that I know was the bird, but had never heard before. I’ve heard Cape Sable seaside sparrows do a little pre-song bill clapping only audible at very close distances, and this was similar in that it sounded like some kind of pre-song gurgling. Then it happened “PEENT” Aghh! I had the gain turned all the way up on my recorder and the sound was deafening in my headphones. I hadn’t expected the bird to land so close! Worse still, I couldn’t reach down to reduce the recording volume because the bird was so close…I’d just have to take it “PEENT!” Oh god, not again!

So this went on for a good 4 minutes, without the bird flying up and doing its aerial display. I think it was just a bit too cold and a bit too windy for the full ensemble. I then realized that I was picking up a rustling noise in the leaves to my right, but I dared not move. I glanced to the right with my eyes only, and noticed another Woodcock coming in. Each time the first one went “Peent”, the second one would waddle a little closer in the direction of the singer. What a funny looking bird- waddling around the field floor. Then I picked up another sound, more rustling, this time louder. A rabbit! A rabbit came hopping up; in between me and the second bird (the other bird was about 4 feet away- so the rabbit was at about 2 feet). “This is crazy” I thought. “Okay rabbit, don’t blow my cover!” The rabbit took one look at me and seemed disinterested and moved on. Woodcock number two made it within a foot of woodcock number one, and then number one exploded into the air and away over the woods. Not interested? Spooked? I have no clue. Woodcock number two kept waddling toward the spot where number one had been calling from, and within a minute of number one leaving, number two took flight in the same direction. I still don’t know what caused it, maybe I finally got into view for the birds, or maybe they were just heading off in search of better fields. Either way, no more woodcocks were heard over the next ten minutes, and at that point it was too dark to see, so I packed up my things and headed back to the house.

Unfortunately the weather has turned cold again, so I’ll have to wait for a little warm up before getting anymore impressive displays. In the meantime, I’ve made several clips of the recordings so you can check them out. There are 4 in total:
1. A segment of the “peent” vocalization, at regular speed.
2. The same recording, but incrementally slowed down to 1/2 speed, then to 1/4 speed.
3. The same recording as #1, but at 1/2 speed
4. The same recording as #1, but at 1/4 speed (you can really hear the individual notes that make up the guttural vocalization)
Recordings made with a Sennheiser ME66 shotgun mic connected to a Marantz PMD670 Compact Flash recorder

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Click on the image to view full-sized
American Woodcock 'peent' American Woodcock 'Tukoo' detail
Sonograms made in the awesome and FREE program Syrinx

You gotta love the Birds of North America species accounts. This is from the American Woodcock account:

Vocal array

Most commonly heard are the Peent, Tuko, Chirping, and Cackle of males during display at dawn and dusk. Limited information otherwise.

The Peent is a single, short (0.2 s), buzzy note ( Fig. 3a) repeated repetitively while on the ground (see Fig. 4); usually described as peent but also eeee, eeent, wheent, among others (Pettingill 1936: 292). Peents are unmistakeable, yet may be confused with sound made by high-flying common nighthawks (Chordeiles minor). Visual inspection of spectrograms may differentiate among a small number of males. Total call duration, frequency, and pulse rate at 30–36 and 36–42 dB contours best differentiate males (Weir and Graves 1982), yet sophisticated analyses cannot completely distinguish individual males over time from large population. No convincing evidence that females Peent. Male rotates on ground causing directional change in intensity of Peent. Audible to humans ≤ 235 m (Duke 1966). Male performances at dawn and dusk begin and terminate with long, slow Peenting bouts: in New Brunswick, ≥ 7.0 min (n = 66) and ≥ 6.0 min (100), respectively (DMK). Excluding these slow first and last sessions, Peenting bouts average 10 per crepuscular performance and their duration averages (± SD) 1.6 ± 1.4 min (n = 840, range 0.1–10.4 min); Peenting rate in these bouts averages 19.3 ± 6.4 Peents/min (2,039, 15 males over 4 yr, 0.4–81.1 Peents/min; DMK).

Individual Peent preceded by Tuko, a short (0.3 s), subdued (1kHz), quavering tuukoo, also interpreted as wh’ook, koo, and ka-rurr (Pitelka 1943), among others (Pettingill 1936:294). The two sounds usually merge into one, e.g., tuukooeeent ( Fig. 3a). Male may utter Tuko alone at widely separated intervals (0.2–30 s) initially after alighting on display area or when alert to strange sound. Male Tukos during display to female (J. Longcore pers. comm.). Audible to humans at about 50 m.

Chirping is a fast, repetitive series of 4–6, melodious, twittering notes at 2–6 kHz ( Fig. 3c) during Song Flights, rendered as chirp-chirp-Chirpchirpchirp, … (Pettingill 1936: 290, Sheldon 1967: 38). Duration of Chirping about 15 s. The rapid, harsh Cackle is most intense at 3–5 kHz ( Fig. 3d), given as ca-ca-ca-ca-ca. Given by a male flying low over another peenting male, cackling appears to be aggressive challenge; may cause resident to increase Peenting rate or give chase; may Cackle during chase. Cackle sometimes given while bird on ground, particularly if two Peenting males close. Other vocalizations elicited by females and chicks not well known, most appear to reflect alarm or brood cohesion (Sheldon 1967: 39–40).

From: Keppie, D. M. and R. M. Whiting, Jr. 1994. American Woodcock (Scolopax minor). In The Birds of North America, No. 100 (A. Poole and F. Gill, Eds.). Philadelphia: The Academy of Natural Sciences; Washington, D.C.: The American Ornithologists’ Union.


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14 responses to “American Woodcock”

  1. Wow. That must have been a wonderful experience! (Aside from the loud noise in the headphones, anyway.)

  2. Thank for the recording and story, I was out west of Baltimore just a few nights ago listening for a Woodcock, alas none revealed itself.

  3. Saw this , what I thought odd looking bird in my yard Saturday 3/17. watched thru binoculars trying to get full visual, it had the characteristic bobbing while it alked, took a picture and discovered thru my son it is a Woodcock. From all I have read since, it was rare to see one .
    Your website was also help.
    I feel priveleged to have seen it , hope it comes back
    Pat
    Yardley,Pa.

  4. Yesterday, as I was returning home from school (I teach 6th grade) I saw an unusual bird on my front lawn, rocking back and forth and sticking its beak into the grass. I had never seen anything like it. I watched from my car, not wanting to disturb it. Today I looked it up and learned it was a woodcock. We live in a coastal Connecticut city, in a residential area, with very few woods nearby. I was thrilled to see this beautiful bird!

  5. Those are both awesome experiences! These birds really are a treat to see. If you’ve got a wet field near some woods, you might want to set a chair outside just before dark and wait them out…you never know, you could hear the twittering flight call of the American Woodcock! Thanks for posting your observations.

    Best

    David

  6. Thank you David, for the response — and the interesting web site. I may try your suggestion. Hope I can see and/or hear the woodcock again…or some other interesting variety. We have many beautiful shore birds in our city as we are right on Long Island Sound.

    Bette
    Norwalk, CT

  7. I think the bird in my Queens, NY backyard this afternoon is an American Woodcock. It is nestled in the dead leaves I meant to rake today. I just happened to look out the window and notice something not quite the same as the leaves. It is very well camouflaged by its coloration. Only when it shifted position slightly was I able to see the very long bill. This bird may not be an adult because it seems to be no longer than about 8″ (without bill). This is a first for me – the usual complement is jays, cardinals, sparrows, purple finches, and mourning doves.

  8. Yesterday, Feb. 11 2008, an American Woodcock unfortunately crashed into a window of a business that I was in, in Groton, Connecticut. It appeared to be in shock and there was some bleeding coming from it’s beak. I placed the injured bird in a box and was able to contact a wildlife rehab to take the injured bird in for recovery. The bird did not appear to be gravely injured and for the size, it appeared to be a female. This is the first time I have ever seen one of these birds.

  9. Today an American Woodcock took up residence in my backyard in a puddle of running water. My wife pulled out a bird book and it took some time to determine what it was. It is snowing and the puddle is freezing up. I wonder how long it will stay if the water freezes up. It is still there sitting in the blowing snow.

  10. Hello David, Writing from the edge of the Middlesex Fells Reservation, just outside Boston. First woodcock appeared here March 10, and now there are at least three. Just came in tonight and saw/heard some great displaying.

  11. Thank you David, for the response — and the interesting web site. I may try your suggestion. Hope I can see and/or hear the woodcock again…or some other interesting variety. We have many beautiful shore birds in our city as we are right on Long Island Sound.

    Bette
    Norwalk, CT

  12. I saw a Woodcock here in central Pennsylvania. It was walking slowly across the gravel road in a strange way. It was wobbling its body back and forth but kept its head perfectly still. Then it would take a ponderous step forward and repeat. It would have taken three minutes or more for it to cross the road at the rate it was going and if I’d had the patience to wait. It was quite tame but when I approached within 30 feet it ran off into the brush.

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