The American Woodcock is a shorebird that abandoned the shore for the woods, and almost everything about it is delightfully odd. Plump and short-legged, camouflaged in dead-leaf browns, it carries a comically long bill and enormous eyes set high and far back on its head, giving it nearly 360-degree vision. It probes soft ground for earthworms with a flexible bill tip that can open underground, and it often rocks its body in a slow, bobbing "walk" thought to stir prey into moving.
The woodcock is best known for its spring "sky dance." At dusk in March and April, the male struts in a clearing giving a buzzy, nasal "peent," then spirals hundreds of feet into the sky on twittering wings before zigzagging back down to earth to start again. This courtship display, immortalized by conservationist Aldo Leopold, is one of the great spectacles of early spring in Michigan's young forests and brushy edges.
Feeds mainly on earthworms, probing soft, moist soil with a long, flexible-tipped bill that can grasp prey underground. It also eats insect larvae, beetles, and other invertebrates, and needs damp, rich ground where worms are abundant near the surface.
That is a displaying male American Woodcock. He gives a nasal "peent" from the ground, then spirals high into the sky on musically twittering wings before fluttering back down — the famous springtime "sky dance."
The woodcock often bobs its body in a rhythmic, rocking step as it forages. One idea is that the motion causes vibrations in the soil that make earthworms move, helping the bird detect them.
The high, rearward placement of the eyes gives the woodcock a nearly panoramic field of view, letting it watch for danger overhead even while its long bill is buried in the ground probing for worms.
Chicks are cryptically mottled buff and brown and leave the nest within hours, freezing motionless when a parent gives the alarm. They can make short flights at about two weeks.
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