Ijams American woodcock searchers and soup-eaters enjoyed Peg's belly-warming soup last Saturday evening and then completed their quest, finding the elusive squat, upland shorebirds known as woodcocks a.k.a. timberdoodles just before darkness fell.
American woodcocks are migrating through the county on their way to their breeding grounds to the north. A few nest in East Tennessee, we are at the southern edge of their range.
"Superbly camouflaged against the leaf litter, the brown-mottled American Woodcock walks slowly along the forest floor, probing the soil with its long bill in search of earthworms. Unlike its coastal relatives, this plump little shorebird lives in young forests and shrubby old fields across eastern North America. Its cryptic plumage and low-profile behavior make it hard to find except in the springtime at dawn or dusk, when the males show off for females by giving loud, nasal "peeeeennnnt" calls and performing dazzling aerial displays," states the Cornell Lab of Ornithology website.
Superbly camouflaged, indeed. And finding them in the twilight is always a challenge, but this is an annual pre-spring ritual at the nature center.
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