Woodcock may be true predictor of spring

By My Courier-Tribune

Now is the time to get out and start listening for one of our most unusual birds, the woodcock, also known as timberdoodle, according to the Missouri Department of Conservation.

Woodcocks are odd quail-sized birds that has a long skinny bill and large eyes that set high on its head. They are superbly camouflaged to live in young open forests, thick brush, and thickets.

In March, male woodcocks emerge and do a dramatic sky dance that announces the end of winter and the start of the mating season. Around dusk, the male will make his way into an open field and begin the courtship ritual. First, he will call out a nasal “peent.”

Then he flies upward in a giant spiral, up to several hundred feet. Then he falls back to earth while his feathers make a gurgling sound, and then it begins again. This courting ritual can repeat nightly for several nights. Nests are shallow depressions on the ground in open woods; the young birds can run around soon after hatching but require feeding by the mother for the first week.

For more information on this unique bird visit the American woodcock on the Missouri Department of Conservation website at mdc.mo.gov.