🌳Wildlife Wednesday: The American Woodcock 🪵The American Woodcock, a unique bird known for its incredible camouflage and famous “Sky Dance” mating display. Often called the “timberdoodle,” this elusive bird is hard to spot due to its earth-toned feathers that blend perfectly with the forest floor. ✨Fun Facts: ☁️ Sky Dance: During mating season, males perform a mesmerizing aerial display, spiraling upwards to 300 feet and then zigzagging down while making chirping sounds to land next to a femal

The American Woodcock (also known as timberdoodle, Labrador twister, night partridge, and bog sucker) won in the funniest category of our bird Grammys by a landslide at 75% of the votes! Seek them out in the springtime at dusk, if you're in eastern North America. It can be hard at first to locate the bird in dim light, so listen for the distinctive, buzzy peent call given at fairly short intervals. It intersperses this call, given from the ground, with its spiraling display flights. In the air t

The woodcocks are back in town! American woodcock migration is underway. These secretive birds migrate at night and drop down in lawns, cemeteries, and open fields. During the day they can be seen strutting and bobbing to feel for earthworms moving underground. Earthworms make up more than 70% of their diet. Their eyes are so high up on their head so they can see almost 360 degrees while slurping up their favorite meal. Have you seen any migrators lately? -NS, Naturalist | Cleveland Metroparks