Sound up! 🔊 American Woodcock showing its chicks how to strut their stuff 😅 When it comes to silly walks, no bird outdoes the American Woodcock’s one-of-a-kind strut. It goes like this. Take one step forward, then rock your whole torso forward and back a few times before sliiiiiding another foot forward — all while keeping your head perfectly steady. It looks like a bird with an undeniable sense of rhythm. Why do woodcocks do this quirky walk? Some think they’re shifting their weight onto thei

This male American woodcock has some glide in his stride and some dip in his hip. It must be springtime at Moosehorn National Wildlife Refuge in Maine. Footage by Keith Ramos / USFWS | Center for Biological Diversity

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