Showing posts with label woodcock. Show all posts
Showing posts with label woodcock. Show all posts

Friday, March 16, 2012

Rare Woodcock spotted in Tompkins Square Park

First, please no snickering over the bird's name... Bobby Williams spotted this Woodcock today in the Park...



And, background cut-n-paste from Wikipedia...

The American Woodcock (Scolopax minor), sometimes colloquially referred to as the Timberdoodle, is a small chunky shorebird species found primarily in the eastern half of North America. Woodcock spend most of their time on the ground in brushy, young-forest habitats, where the birds' brown, black, and gray plumage provides excellent camouflage.

Because of the male Woodcock's unique, beautiful courtship flights, the bird is welcomed as a harbinger of spring in northern areas. It is also a popular game bird, with about 540,000 killed annually by some 133,000 hunters in the U.S.