I had a theory that woodcocks didn't dance when it was too cold or snowy, so last evening when I took the dog out around 7:40 I was surprised to hear them as we stepped from the lawn to the edge of a brushy field. There was one woodcock just landing (and warbling) to my right, and one peenting very nearby on my left, so close that I was frustrated not to see it against the snow. Suddenly the one to my right made a sound I'd never heard, a gruff alarm like hehehehehehehehehe and with that it flew right past me towards the other bird. Then they both rose together in a twittering flight, silhouetted against the sky. The dog began to bark, and the birds vanished. But it seemed that they were competing over the territory? And maybe in fact the moonlit snow gives them a good dancefloor, as long as it isn't too deep.
Nancy Dickinson Mecklenburg Make a little birdhouse in your soul. -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
