Vermont’s Sensational Timberdoodles - American Woodcocks

It’s April, and American Woodcocks are returning to Vermont!

Humans have given many folk names to these robin-sized birds, including Bogsucker, Night Partridge, Hokumpoke and - my favorite - Timberdoodle. Here are three stories about Timberdoodles I have known and loved.

TIMBERDOODLE STORY NUMBER ONE - I was taking a walk in the Crane Brook Conservation area (off Irish Settlement Road in Underhill) when a feathered ball of fury appeared from nowhere - and started viciously attacking my hiking boots. The rotund brown bird jumped up and down on the front of my boots. It grabbed my laces and tugged. It drew back its head and tried to stab my ankle with its absurdly long bill.

It was a female woodcock, and there were at least four chicks just a few feet off the trail. The babies looked like miniatures of their mama but with shorter bills. (Like most ground-nesting birds, woodcock chicks are precocial. That is, they’re fully feathered when they hatch, their eyes are open and they’re somewhat mobile. This is different from songbirds like robins, whose young are bald, blind and helpless.)

TIMBERDOODLE STORY NUMBER TWO – One of my blocks for the Vermont Breeding Bird Atlas included the Poker Hill Road area of Underhill. One day I was walking along Tupper Road when my eye was caught by something very odd. At first, I couldn’t make sense of what I was seeing. A low-slung brown bird was standing on the edge of the dirt road and bouncing - repeatedly bouncing, moving its whole body up and down as if there were springs in its legs. My first thought was that the poor thing had suffered a glancing blow from a passing car and was struggling with either shock or brain damage.

I watched for almost ten minutes, and the bird, a comical-looking little Timberdoodle, never stopped bouncing. From time to time, it took one or two steps – and then went back to its slow, regular bouncing. I’ve since read that the Woodcock Shuffle is thought to startle earthworms into moving. Earthworms make up about 60% of a woodcock’s diet. Their bills are flexible at the end, which enables the birds to locate worms in the mud, grab ‘em, and pull ‘em out.

TIMBERDOODLE STORY NUMBER THREE - I was doing my sixth annual Whip-poor-will census. Here in northern Vermont, this is a discouraging kind of volunteer effort; it was my sixth year in a row of driving around without seeing or hearing a single Whip-poor-will. However, this time I was rewarded by the unexpected.

I was parked at the first point on my survey route, near Maple Leaf Farm in Underhill Center. Suddenly I heard several loud nasal “PEEENTs” from the ground near the small cabin across the road. After a few minutes, a blur of a bird rocketed straight up into the air. I waited, and then I heard a long, falling jumble of airy twitters and “kissing” noises. The whole sequence repeated itself three times before I finally got my binoculars on an American Woodcock.

The territorial peent noises catch the attention of nearby females, and then the twittering, tinkling, kissing plunge back to earth convinces females of a male’s worth as a potential mate.

Several males often gather together on a courtship area called a lek, all peenting and flying high and hurtling back toward the ground, surrounded by quiet invisible females. For humans, an active woodcock lek is a feast for eyes and ears, an exciting celebration of spring. There are several leks in Chittenden County, but birders are reluctant to publicize the locations because of a need to protect the birds from overeager humans (who have been known to stalk the courting birds with huge flashlights and spotlights).

The best way to find and enjoy woodcocks in the spring is do a little preparation first. Listen to the sounds of American Woodcocks either on line (two great sources are xeno-canto.org and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology) or on an app such as Audubon Birds or Sibley Birds. The “peent” noise is loud and unmistakable, but you might miss the flight music if you’re not sure what you’re listening for.

Then just be outdoors near good woodcock habitat as day fades into night. As their name suggests, woodcocks nest in forests, but they seek open areas for courting. Find an open field or a wet meadow adjacent to woodland. Spend at least a half hour completely still, just listening. Find a log to sit on, or even bring a comfy lawn chair. Or roll down all the windows in your car. American Woodcocks are out there, right now, singing and dancing and whistling and tinkling and calling. Once you share in the ritual, you’ll want to do it again every single spring!

                                                            ~Maeve