by Laurie Pocher
Mother Nature threw everything she had at us last night — rain, wind, snow, sleet — but the Maine Young Birders are hardy souls, and we were determined to see the ‘sky dance’ of the American Woodcock (aka Timberdoodle).
Emmons Preserve is a pretty reliable spot to see their aerial displays at dusk this time of year, but we were worried that the weather would keep them grounded. Other than a dozen American Robins digging for worms, the only birds around when we first arrived were a handful of Song Sparrows, Black-Capped Chickadees, and Red-Winged Blackbirds.
We usually spend a couple of hours walking the trails before dusk, but given the weather conditions, we were happy that we’d planned a pizza party and game night. A few brave souls wandered out after dinner and came back to report that they’d seen a Brown Creeper, a Northern Cardinal, a Fox Sparrow and a Woodcock.
On with the coats, gloves and hats, and out we all went into the elements. We followed the Fox Sparrow along a wooded trail, but the weather was keeping it and most other birds pretty quiet. Aside from the call of some Canada Geese flying overhead, the only other sound was sleet bouncing off our coats.
As darkness started to fall, we returned to the Trust HQ and huddled under the deck, debating whether the Woodcocks would make an appearance. At least a few of us had pretty much given up hope when we heard the unmistakable ‘peent’ call from a nearby creek. Then another Woodcock called back.
We slowly moved in that direction, straining to see the really well-camouflaged birds in the dark. They both kept calling, and we could just barely make out one small shape waddling in the grass on the opposite bank.
Suddenly he took off and flew directly at us, and then started climbing in a wide spiral. As he climbed higher, the circles got smaller. He wasn’t calling anymore, all we could hear was the ‘twittering’ sound of his wings as he climbed.
Knowing he would land very close to where he took off, we moved closer to the landing zone while he was climbing, and waited for his descent. When he landed, we were able to get some good looks at him as he resumed his ‘peent’ calls.
We watched him for a while, hoping for another aerial display, but he seemed pretty content on the ground. It was pretty dark by then, so we walked down to the Labyrinth for a bit, before heading back inside to dry off, warm up and work on a jigsaw puzzle.
We may not have seen a lot of birds, and we didn’t take many photos (the cover photo is from a few years ago) but we were pretty happy with what we did see. We were delighted to welcome a new MYBC member, Isaiah. And we’re very grateful to the Kennebunk Conservation Trust for allowing us to use the Trust HQ for our pizza party and game night.
In April, we’ll be heading out to look for warblers and other returning spring migrants. Stay tuned for our trip announcement coming soon. Until then… happy birding!
