63. Get to know the American woodcock.
7. When to Sing, and How
Songs and calls in flight
From page 131 in the book.
Get to know the American woodcock. If you live in the East, find a woodcock during early spring. At dusk, perhaps you will hear him first overhead, flying over an area roughly the size of a football field. When he stops his overhead singing, wait 15 to 20 seconds until you hear where he has landed, now peenting on the ground; next time he is airborne, walk closer to his ground arena, to identify the site, but stop well short of it, and stop moving before he returns! Maybe the next day, an hour before sunset (in good weather, of course, dressed warmly), sneak in to about 30 yards from this arena, and settle into a comfortable spot, well hidden perhaps behind some bushes so as not to disturb him, and wait. He'll appear soon, maybe walking into his arena, perhaps flying in. How many times does he peent, and how rapidly, over what time period, before his first flight? How much time and how many peents before the next flight? Are his display flights at all coordinated with the display flights of any peenting neighbors? It'll all be over in an hour or so, so stay with him. Study your numbers and your notes and you will have come to know a whole new woodcock. Then there's dawn! Does he behave any differently then?