Outdoor Radio: The American Woodcock

Vermont Public | By Chris Albertine

Published April 20, 2017 at 11:24 AM EDT

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The American Woodcock can be almost invisible on the forest floor.

Roy Pilcher

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This spread wing of a male American Woodcock shows the three modified outer primary feathers that produce a whistling sound in flight.

Kent McFarland / Vermont Center For Ecostudies

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This phenology from Vermont eBird shows that with a warm spring in 2016, observations peaked on March 22. They didn't peak until April 8 during the cold spring of 2015, similar to this year.

Vermont eBird

The arrival of the American Woodcock is one of the exciting signs of spring in Vermont.

Biologist Kent McFarland joined a group of bird enthusiasts called "The Mad Birders" on a recent evening to find some. As they take their annual Woodcock walk in Moretown, we learn about this bird's amazing mating ritual and hear their unusual sound.

You can find more information about the American Woodcock at these links:

All About Birds: American Woodcock
The Woodcock Management Plan at Timberdoodle.org.
American Woodcock fact sheet from the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department
A map of recent American Woodcock sightings in Vermont and beyond.
Add your sightings at Vermont eBird, a project of the American Atlas of Life.

Outdoor Radio is produced in collaboration with the Vermont Center For Ecostudies and is made possible by the Jack and Dorothy Byrne Foundation.