Episode 46: American Woodcock – Voice of the Wild

This is Illinois Extension’s Voice of the Wild. A new wild voice in just a moment, so find someplace quiet, take a deep breath, and enjoy.

This bird would be merely peculiar judged solely on its “peent” call but the depths of this bird's strangeness are much deeper than that. Despite being solitary and living in woodlands, It is technically a sandpiper and it has their long, probing beak to show for it,. Its eyes are pushed back about as far to the back and top of the head as would be possible without its eyes literally pointing backwards. And of course, it gives a spectacular springtime display to attract a mate- flying upwards into the sky and circling about with whistling wingtips.

This is the American woodcock (Scolopax minor) from the shorebird family, Scolopacidae
The American woodcock sometimes makes an exaggerated rocking motion when it is walking. This was originally interpreted as a method of drawing earthworms out of the soil, but that theory has seen substantial scrutiny. There’s just too many observations of American woodcock doing the rocking display on hard or frozen surfaces where no earthworms could possibly be present.

An alternative to the earthworm idea is that the woodcock is letting you and other potential predators, know that it sees you, and that its therefore no use chasing it. It’d fly away before you could even move a muscle. Either way, the rocking motion is so exaggerated it gives the bird the appearance of doing a funny little dance, and this has gained the woodcock many admirers on the internet. I’ve linked in the description several videos folks have made of the bird dancing to a tune.

For those who would like to appreciate the bird without musical accompaniment, try to find a large forest clearing or open grassland adjacent to scrubby woods, that’s where they like to do their display flights, which typically start around the first of March. If you’re lucky and there’s a park district or Audubon chapter running a woodcock walk near you, this is what you could expect to hear:

Thank you to the Macaulay library at the Cornell lab for our bird sounds. And thank you for tuning in to learn a new wild voice with Illinois Extension.