During the summer in
Missouri, you might catch a glimpse of a squat, strange-looking little member
of the shorebird family called a Woodcock.
These funny little
fellows, also called Timberdoodles, can be quite elusive, not because they are
threatened (they’re actually listed as a species of least concern), but because
they have such darn good camouflage.
Unlike its coastal
cousins, the American Woodcock spends most of its time on the ground in fields
or on the forest floor, where its buff, brown, and black coloration makes it
incredibly difficult to spot. Like other shorebirds, the Woodcock has a long
slender bill, which it uses to probe the soil for worms and other
invertebrates. The very tip of this bird’s bill has the ability to open and
close while underground, enabling it to snatch up slippery prey.
Because this little bird
spends much of its time with its bill to the ground, the Woodcock has evolved a
unique way of keeping an eye out for predators – it has eyes in the back of its
head. Okay, not quite, but it comes close. Woodcocks have eyes located high and
near the back of their skulls. This placement not only allows them to watch the
sky while they forage, it also gives them one of the largest fields of vision
of any bird, able to see nearly 360 degrees around them horizontally.
The American Woodcock is a
migratory bird; though migration is irregular and not easily observed, since
these birds often migrate individually or in small groups, and migrate at
night. They only migrate a short distance, if at all. Migratory flights are leisurely and at low altitudes. In
fact, the American Woodcock lays claim to the slowest flight ever recorded.
Although normal migratory flights of the Woodcock range from 16 to 28 miles per
hour, Woodcocks have been clocked at a whopping 5 miles per hour in flight.
The American Woodcock
nests in the springtime, with the female laying her eggs in a shallow nest on
the ground. Males will mate with multiple females, so the male provides no
parental care. When the young hatch, they only spend a few hours in the nest
before venturing out with mom. These precocious youngsters (meaning able to
fend for themselves very soon after hatching) still depend on their mother for
food for about a week before beginning to probe for food themselves.
American Woodcocks are a
game bird; one of the few shorebirds still hunted. Well managed hunting does
not appear to greatly affect their populations. Recent declines are due to habitat loss. It is important to
preserve shrubland and young forests as breeding grounds for these birds. It
may not seem an urgent cause now, but taking steps to conserve a species is
much easier than bringing a species back from the brink of extinction. It would
truly be a shame to lose such a unique bird.
The next time you walk one
of the woodland trails at the World Bird Sanctuary, keep an eye out for
“Timberdoodles”. You never know
when one of these unique birds might erupt from almost under your feet
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Submitted by Johanna
Burton, World Bird Sanctuary Naturalist
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