Loading...
The Mysterious WoodcockTHE MYSTERIOUS WOODCOCK By Dennis Puleston. Every wildlife species — mam- mal, bird, reptile. even the lowly insect — has its own specialized courtship ritual. Some of these rituals amaze us, others appear quite ludicr- ous, though to the male creature occupied in wooing the female of his choice it is d e a td 1 y serious, the preliminaries to the powerful mating urge which instinct orders him to fulfill, so that his own kind can continue. Examples of highly formalized courtship routines with which we are all familiar are the singing of the small frogs known as spring peepers, the piercing, vi- brant calls of the cicada s, the pale, dancing light of the light- ning bugs, and, of course, the great spring chorus of bird songs, some pleasingly melodious, and some, at least to our ears, harsh and unmusical. Yet all these varied tokens of the male's desire are delivered with the greatest fervor, and are accepted, after appropriate coyness, by the chos- en mate. Of all the extraordinary court- ship performances to be wit- nessed in this part of t h e country, none surpasses t h e nuptial flight of the woodcock. To the naturalist, this is the essence of early spring, a phe- nomenon which he can never forget and never cease to enjoy wonder at. To observe this ritual, o n e must go to a brushy field, clog( to a patch of swampy woodland About half an hour after sun down, just before dusk sets in a strange call will be heard fron the woods. This is the male bird tuning up for his act. At lengtl he darts out from his cover, t settle in the open field. He the begins to strut like a miniatur turkey, with wings drooping an stumpy tail fanned, uttering tha same weird, single -noted .call. .A this juncture, he is apparently s absorbed in his own performanc he can be approached quit closely without being distracter Suddenly he rises from the ground, and climbs almost ver tically with a vibrant whistlini sound. At this stage, he seem more like a cross between moth and a helicopter than a bird. In several steep spirals be is now several hundred fee overhead, swaying back a n fourth as though on a pendulum At the apex of his flight commences his song, a series bubbling, twittering notes on descending scale. Twisting h body, he then hurtles downwarc as the song grows in intensii Not until he lands, at about t same spot from which he aro: does the ecstatic song cease.. 7e act is now repeated, start - as before with the rasping and the strutting. On clear, alit nights the woodcock is y to continue his wooing long r nightfall. In the morning, song can be heard from about an hour before dawn until daylight has arrived. )wring the day, the birds nain in the wooded swamps, I due to their protective oration they are rarely seen, :ept when flushed from un- rfoot. Since their staple food earthworms, for which they Abe with their long, flexible Is, they .require soft ground which to live. Probably due the fact that they spend so ich of their lives boring into mud, the large, dark eyes e set far back in the head, JS giving them maximum >ibility in case of danger. he crude nest is merely a hol- in the dead leaves, well hid- in a thicket. The hen sets rely on the eggs, and some - es can even be stroked gently the back without forsaking her irge. oon after the downy young are .ched, they are able to follow mother, who leads them off to the swamps. A few naturalists have been so fortunate as to ob- serve the remarkable habit of th hen in giving her chicks an aeria- lift, as one by one she carries them away, clasped between her legs. We have much to learn about this interesting bird. We know little about its migratory patterns, and some aspects of its courtship are still not fully understood. There is a running controversy between ornithologists as to how the bird is able to make those peculiar winnowing sounds as it rises on its nocturnal flights. Are these produced vocally, or by the rapidly vibrating flight feathers? Is it only the males that partici- pate in the nuptial dance? On a still spring evening, as we watch and listen to the fas- cinating rites, we are filled with the wonder and complexity of the many natural phenomena around us, which are typified in the age - old, instinctive rapture of t h e mysterious woodcock. FIELD NOTES — Bob Stivers reports an abun- dance of "Viburnum Carlisi" now blooming in the area. The most fragrant of flowering shrubs, they grow in tiny pink clusters at the end of bush twigs.