The woodcock’s sky dance. Woodcock prefer a clear, calm, warm evening for lovemaking, and those are … Find This Bird. Related to the sandpipers, but strikingly different in habits. On late winter and early spring evenings, male woodcocks perform conspicuous displays, dubbed “sky dances” by naturalist Aldo Leopold. This rotund, short-legged bird hides in forest thickets by day, where it uses its long bill to probe in damp soil for earthworms. By Scott Shalaway - March 9, 2019. On a warm evening, with clear skies and little wind, in … Birders call it the “sky dance,” but the woodcock doesn’t dance like nobody’s watching. I recently watched the timberdoodle’s sky dance on a calm evening in early April. The more the merrier. Tweet on Twitter. 439. If you can find where the bird is or at least locate about where it is, watch the sky because after a few of his chants he will take off in flight, going high into the sky and flying in a circular pattern . The Woodcock's Sky Dance. Conservationist Aldo Leopold wrote about the sky dance of the American woodcock in his book, A Sand County Almanac. Woodcocks are easiest to find at dusk in the springtime, when the male performs a marvelous display flight, or “sky dance.” It can be hard at first to locate the bird in dim light, so listen for the distinctive, buzzy peent call given at fairly short intervals. Sky dance of the timberdoodle Nick Baumgart, Michigan State University Extension - April 6, 2017 Find out more about the American woodcock, or timberdoodle, and the unique mating ritual of this small, migratory bird. 0. Woodcock strutting video by Keith Ramos/USFWS. He intersperses this call, given from the ground, with his spiraling display flights. The sky dance of the American woodcock is one of the more elaborate courtship rituals among all the wild things of Pennsylvania. Amazingly, the woodcock’s evening show can begin as early as February and will continue every night (weather permitting) through May. He’s hoping that at least one and hopefully several ladies are fixated on him. In mid to late March you will hear the males at dusk or dawn starting their PEENT chanting. Woodcocks have many amusing nicknames, including timberdoodle, bogsucker, night partridge and mudbat. Sky Dance has been playing for eons, yet the theaters remain nearly audience-free. Share on Facebook. He called the “meep” sounds “peents.” Here is his description of what we saw: Up and up he goes, the spirals steeper and smaller, the twittering louder and louder, until the performer is only a speck in the sky. Its eyes are set far back on its head, allowing it to watch for danger even with its bill buried in the dirt. A male begins by giving a buzzy, nasal peent call, turning in a tight circle while calling to broadcast to all nearby females. American Woodcock perform a “sky dance” as their primary mating dance, but leading up to the show, they also have a great strut. 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