One of my birding stops today was Lake Park in Milwaukee. As I stood on a ravine top, out of the corner of my eye a bird flew up from below and landed a couple hundred feet away. I knew this was a new bird to the area. From a distance it actually looked like a large hummingbird flying up. Well, I knew it was not that, but in a minute I knew it was an American Woodcock. I knew I was not going to be chasing this bird around the park. Walking around the park some more I noticed movement in a ravine off a bridge. It was a couple of the American Woodcocks foraging in open running water in the ravine probing down deep with their long bills. One took to the higher ground on the side of a ravine and walked around some but ended up back near the bottom of the ravine. This one foraged near rocks and an old stump thinking it was finding things to eat. I thought it was all pretty exciting, the whole show these 2 birds put on. A total of 4 birds seen, the other 2 were up the ravine just foraging and resting. A nice day to be out, some sun, a good wind, still felt like winter with temps in the mid 30’s. Images were taken on April 17, 2018.
A short flight here…
American Woodcock
Binomial name: Scolopax minor
Category: Sandpipers, Phalaropes, and Allies
Size: 11” long, 18” wingspan
Weight: 7 Oz
The walk..
Foraging
Mud on the bill from probing…
Foraging
Foraging
Foraging
Foraging at the base of a rock….
Foraging on a ravine slope…
Foraging at the bottom of a ravine in the running water…
Foraging at the bottom of a ravine in the running water…
Foraging at the bottom of a ravine in the running water…
This has certainly been a great year for observing woodcocks. Probably not a good year so far for the birds because they normally find foraging areas out of our view. I learn something almost every time I look at your photos, Jim. I thought in weather like this that they would be feeding only in open water areas, but your great shots show that they will probe right through the snow. The ravine shots are more like what I see, if I see them feeding at all. Very interesting. Thanks!
Thanks for sharing, I’m glad they were able to forage for some food in all this snow. It made me hopeful.