Woodcock Walk at Riethmiller Grasslands

Our originally scheduled walk was postponed one week due to expected lightning.  And while it was a bit colder than last week, it was surely a much nicer evening.  Ten participants came out to see the spectacle that is the spring breeding courtship display of the American Woodcock (Scolopax minor).  

(Brenda Wineman)

We had some great birds while we were waiting for the show including Ring-necked Pheasant, Red-tailed Hawk, 2 Osprey, American Bittern, and our bird of honor's cousin, the Wilson's Snipe.

The 'peent' calls started about 20 minutes after sunset.  A few minutes later the show started with the quick vertical rise, overflight, then landing. 

I counted 7 displays, of which I only saw three.  All of our attendees were able to see at least one of the flights.  This was the first Woodcock display experience for several in our group.  Woodcocks at Riethmiller grassland is one of my favorite tours and this marks my eighth outing at Riethmiller-and my record is 8 & O.

I'll end with a description of this spring wonder from about 130 years ago.

Neltje Blanchan describes the sky dance:

In the early spring any one who takes an interest in the woodcock, aside from its flavor, will be repaid for one's tramp through the swale, at evening, to see the bird go through a series of aerial antics and attestations of affection to his inamorata. Standing with his bill pointing downward and his body inclined for-ward, he calls out pink, pink, as much as to say: "Now look, the performance is about to begin"; then suddenly he springs from the ground, flies around and around in circles, his short stiff wings whistling as he goes, higher, higher, faster, faster, and louder and louder, as he sweeps by overhead in erratic circles, each overlapping the other, until the end of the spiral described must be fully three hundred feet from the ground. Now, uttering a sharp whistle, down he comes, pitching, darting, and finally alighting very near the spot from which he set out. Pink, pink, he again calls, to make sure his efforts are not lost upon the object of his affection, and before he can fairly have recovered his breath, off he goes on another series of gyrations accompanied by wing music.

From The Bird Book by Neltje Blanchan,1897

And now back to the 21st century: our trip eBird list is available at  https://ebird.org/checklist/S318516310