Found this little guy Sunday afternoon.

[First-light]

Hay was just cut and I was headed down to the pond for a cookout. Thought I saw a grouse in the cut field. Drove my quad within 5 feet of this WoodCock. Hope it didn't have a nest in the Hay field??? He or she flew off after a couple of picts. 

[Doc]

Aren't they the goofiest looking bird that you've ever seen. I had one in my driveway a bunch of years ago, and he was doing some weird kind of dance in front of my car. I have no idea what it was all about, but I suppose it might have had something to do with a nest somewhere.

 

[First-light]

Pretty fast when he took off! 

[Shoots100]

They usually nest in young hardwoods near a marsh and not open fields.

Being it's NY, it could be a woodcock that's self identifying as another type of bird !

[Farflung]

I've seen the very young chicks on 2 instances. Look like a oversized yellowish-brown cotton ball with stubby little legs and a disportionatly long bill

[DirtTime]

Cool picture and encounter.

 

You don't see them often anymore. I haven't seen one in a lot of years.

[Grouse]

On 5/31/2023 at 2:55 PM, Doc said:

Aren't they the goofiest looking bird that you've ever seen. I had one in my driveway a bunch of years ago, and he was doing some weird kind of dance in front of my car. I have no idea what it was all about, but I suppose it might have had something to do with a nest somewhere.

They do a cool walking dance and nobody is really sure why.  They also do a sky dance at dusk when mating and it is something to see.

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/woodcocks-silly-walk

 

Edited June 1 by Grouse

[Grouse]

 

[Four Seasons]

7 hours ago, Grouse said:

They do a cool walking dance and nobody is really sure why.  They also do a sky dance at dusk when mating and it is something to see.

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/woodcocks-silly-walk

 

And scare the living crap out of you when they bust out of our hayfields just as you’re about to take your next step. They hold tight to the end. 

[blackbeltbill]

Orange County used to be a Healthy Night Flyway when the Woodcock migrated South at Night by the Stars and a good wind. Back in the 1970s,80s,90s my Pheasant  Dogs would flush up 2 to 5 Timberdoodles  each day out in the Marshy Fields as the Woodcock settled in for a day of Eating Earthworms before starting again on their Migration  the next Night.

   Recent years- ABBEY has not Flushed up a Woodcock. Not many Hunters in Orange County see them. Gone also is the Ruffed Grouse. Almost the same story above.

   We will see this Fall starting on October 1st. ABBEY will be Afield again Flushing up Pheasants  and hopefully  a healthy  returning Population  of Timberdoodles. 

 

 

[Daveboone]

They go in population cycles, and are most abundant during migrations. Very cool little bird. Unfortunately....they taste like...dog turd (my closest uninformed guess of what a DT tastes like). anyone else have any experience eating them?

 

[airedale]

1 hour ago, Daveboone said:

anyone else have any experience eating them?

I have eaten Woodcock several times and I think they were quite tasty, the only downside is their small size. Like Quail it takes a good bunch to make a meal.

I did a lot of Woodcock hunting when I was a young guy, the niftiest piece of wing shooting I ever made was a triple on Woodcock with a 16 ga Mossberg bolt action with an adjustable choke on the end of the barrel. It was my first hunting gun my Dad bought me.

Al

Edited June 2 by airedale

[blackbeltbill]

3 hours ago, Daveboone said:

They go in population cycles, and are most abundant during migrations. Very cool little bird. Unfortunately....they taste like...dog turd (my closest uninformed guess of what a DT tastes like). anyone else have any experience eating them?

 

They are "Rich". I have to have them well done . One is enough. 

[fasteddie]

Since grouse was brought up , I have to laugh . Several years ago I was bow hunting at my son's property in Italy Valley . We would go to our stands before light and wait for the sun to come up and legal time . A couple mornings I heard a noise like someone trying to start up a tractor down at the bottom of the hill . I sat in the stand thinking , 2 days and he can't get the darned tractor started ...... what the heck . Then I was informed that it was the noise that a Grouse makes . I still have to laugh at myself on this one .

[Doc]

1 hour ago, fasteddie said:

Since grouse was brought up , I have to laugh . Several years ago I was bow hunting at my son's property in Italy Valley . We would go to our stands before light and wait for the sun to come up and legal time . A couple mornings I heard a noise like someone trying to start up a tractor down at the bottom of the hill . I sat in the stand thinking , 2 days and he can't get the darned tractor started ...... what the heck . Then I was informed that it was the noise that a Grouse makes . I still have to laugh at myself on this one .

You aren't the only one that has made that mistake of thinking it was an old tractor trying to start. When I was a youngster, That's exactly what I thought that sound was.........For several years before someone straightened me out regarding grouse drumming.

[Doc]

21 hours ago, Grouse said:

They do a cool walking dance and nobody is really sure why.  They also do a sky dance at dusk when mating and it is something to see.

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/woodcocks-silly-walk

 

That's it! That's what that goofy bird was doing right in the middle of my driveway, while I had to sit there waiting for him to dance off to the side of the road. I was close enough so I could just see him over the hood of my car. He was in no hurry to escape.