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Perhaps one of my favorite avian vocalizations is the American Woodcock’s “peent”, given at dusk and dawn on early spring days. With a little patience, and warm layers, you’ll also be treated to their aerial displays, explained in the video below. Woodcocks are more abundant than I think most people realize, and without much effort I bet you can find one near your home!
Video notes:
David Allen Sibley has a free pdf about these displays if you want to learn more.
Apparently calling an American Woodcock a lekking species is “speculative”. Only after recording this video did I find this quote from their Birds of the World (formerly Birds of North America) species account: “Claims that American Woodcock exhibit lek system (Ellingwood et al. 1993), dispersed lek (Ziel et al. 2010), or resource-defense polygyny (Dwyer et al. 1988, Mcauley et al. 1993a) remain speculative; only that males select particular territories and that male territories occur near nest and brood cover, respectively.“
The Maine Bird Atlas needs your woodcock reports! Hearing a “peent” is considered the song (possible breeding), and the full aerial display can be submitted as a Probable breeding record using the code “C-Courtship, Display, or Copulation”. Below is a breeding map, showing current results for American Woodcocks (check out the great work by Jeff Cherry filling in blocks around Damariscotta!). Click on the map to access the source.
Hello Doug, I have a second home in Rangeley, Maine. I have been a photographer since 12 years old. I just became passionate about bird photography about 5 years ago. Learning about the natural life of birds here in Rangeley has been thrilling. I did see my first woodcock on South road this spring near the south bog trail crossing the street. I got many wonderful picture of her/him that I would be willing to share with you if needed. I also saw the other birds that look a lot like the Woodcock, the Wilson Snipe down near the Magalloway river in Wilson Mills, also this spring. There were 2 of them and they were rather friendly allowing me to photograph them as they sunned and preened. I go out everyday. I have been to Boyscout Road many times and hear the songs but haven’t seen much, will keep trying. I should start logging my sightings because I could probably be a great help to someones research. This winter I had so much fun with several varieties of crossbills. I learned their behaviors and saw many flocks. Thank you for your interesting information about bird sightings in Rangeley. Of all the presentations I enjoyed yours tremendously. It was very interesting to see places you have sought out in Rangeley. Sincerely, Norma Tareila-Matley