Although Saturday’s weather forced the rescheduling of the Upper Cape Naturalists Club’s winter bird walk, I ended up getting antsy prior to the end of the snow storm and decided to head out for a walk anyway. Tucking my binoculars inside my jacket to shield them from the majority of the wet snow that continued to fall, I set off down the Sagamore Hill trail at Scusset Beach State Reservation. On the edge of the trail, motionless in the grass, was an American woodcock (Scolopax minor). I had only seen American woodcocks once before, and it was on a Mass Audubon led event at their Long Pasture Sanctuary in Barnstable, so it was pretty exciting to encounter one on my own. 

American woodcocks are technically shorebirds that have adapted to live in upland areas, preferring young forests and scrubby old fields to the open coastline. These birds typically rely on their well camouflaged plumage and low-profile behavior to hide from predators, but this particular bird stood out starkly against the white backdrop of the snow. Another predator avoidance adaptation is the placement of their eyes – they are set relatively far back in their head to allow them to maintain constant vigilance while probing the mud and soft sediments with their long beak in search of invertebrates to eat. 

Spring is pretty much the only time American woodcocks throw caution to the wind, with the males performing impressive aerial displays at dusk with the hope of attracting a mate. To begin the display, the male issues a loud, nasal “peent” call to attract females to his location. Having announced himself, the male will then fly in a spiral pattern to a height of 200 to 300 feet. During the ascent, the male’s wingbeats actually give off a twittering sound. After reaching the apex of his flight, the male zigzags down, chirping along the way, then lands near a female.  Once on the ground, he resumes peenting and repeats the display. If you have never witnessed this event, I strongly encourage you to join one of the woodcock events hosted by Mass Audubon at their Long Pasture Sanctuary, The 300 Committee in Falmouth, or another organization near you in late March and early April. 

Although the American woodcock I spotted on the Sagamore Hill trail wasn’t in full-on display mode, it was doing some interesting full-body bobbing. His head remained completely still, while he bobbed the rest of his body up and down. I had wrongly assumed at the time that this action was also associated with courtship. But according to Stokes Nature Guides: A Guide to Bird Behavior (Vol III), this bobbing is done by woodcocks when they are wary of a predator and want to indicate that they are alert and aware of the predator’s presence. In that case, I imagine that bobbing was probably directed at me.