The tale of finding the American Woodcock is yet another tale of Birder Comradery. And, how Internet Stalking can really pay off!
Our usual approach to finding a specific bird is to look the bird up on eBird, find recent reports in the area to which we are traveling, and then review all the report details to get clues as to where, when, and how to find it. These might include notes the person has left, the time the report was submitted, the frequency with which the bird has been reported, and so on.
In this case, we noticed that there was one park outside Chicago where the Woodcock had been reported almost daily for the past month. By the same person. At basically the same time of day. With that kind of frequency, finding it must be a no-brainer, right? But a little extra help couldn't hurt.
With the information derived from the eBird report and some advanced use of various search engines, I managed to find the person online, and his picture. I even found that he had posted a video of the Woodcock doing its "winnowing" flight display in the spring, at that very same park! However, I couldn't find a way to message him, and calling out of the blue seemed a little, well, stalker-ish. So, no extra help that way.
All the reports began around dawn, so we knew that was when we needed to start. Rising well before dawn on Saturday, we checked out of our hotel and made our way through the gloaming. We arrived at the park on schedule, only to discover a multitude of potential trailheads and parking lots. Which one do we choose?
A few minutes later, a car approached and took the road to the right. On a hunch, we took off and tailed that car to where it parked about a half-mile away.
The sun had started to just barely peek over the horizon when the driver parked and got out of his car. He was a young man, wearing a floppy hat, fishing vest, and rubber boots, and carrying binoculars. He looked like the picture online, so this had to be the same guy reporting our bird. I approached him, cautiously, so as not to spook my prey.
“Are you a birder?” I asked innocently, in the friendliest voice I could muster at 6AM (which of course was 4AM at home).
“Yessss?" he replied warily.
"Well," I proceeded as if blissfully unaware of his eBird fame, "My wife and I are from out of town, and we're just here for a few days. We were hoping to see an American Woodcock, and had seen a number of reports online that they were reported here. Would you happen to know where we might look?"
His eyes lit up. "Those were my reports! I've been birding here regularly before work just to see how things changed over the year."
You don't say, I thought. Go on...where is this damn bird!?!?! TELL ME WHERE IS THE BIRD!
He paused and looked around. "But, as high as the sun is," which was just barely over the horizon, "if you haven't seen it by now, then you're not going to today."
And just like that, with his casual toss of the truth, my spirit was broken. You don't need to see a Woodcock this year, my internal dialog went, they're really stupid little birds and you won't be any better for it. Move on, let it go.
"So, how should we go about seeing one?" asked The Wife, somehow unaware that I had already scratched this bird off the list and was contemplating the best place for a nap.
The Birder then proceeded to give us the rundown: Get there earlier (ARGGG!) the next day, and walk the road. If we don't see them there, then be at the parking lot before dawn and they'll almost always fly over.
Thanking him profusely, we regrouped and made a new plan. We would go look for some other local birds (as discussed in this post), stay in the local area that night, and return earlier in the morning for one more shot. Sigh. OK.
The next morning, we arrived 30 minutes earlier. The gate to the park may have been locked, and we may have parked outside and slipped around it. I don't recall. I'm sure it was open, as we wouldn't violate a rule like that just to see a bird, would we?
Walking the park road in the pitch-black morning, we scanned from side to side with our flashlight, but no luck. Reaching the parking lot, we decided to stand, listen, and wait until the sun came up.
About fifteen minutes later, as the sky began to lighten, three things happened in rapid sequence:
A round shape with a long, pointy bill rocketed over our heads -- could that be? Then, The Birder appeared on the road with his flashlight, and exclaimed, "Did you see it?!?" Suddenly, two more similar shapes zoomed by together and plunged deep into a thicket of brush, at speeds that should have caused grievous injury.
"Wow," he said, "Three of them! I didn't realize there were that many still here!"
Now, if that had been the first time in our lives that we had seen an American Woodcock, we would have been sorely disappointed at not getting more than a few milliseconds' glance. But, we've seen them before, and we had an expert ID them, so we'll call it good for this year.
Given that we never would have found that bird on our own, we owe (and gave) a huge thanks to The Birder. You keep on doing your thing, my friend. And I promise not to stalk you any more. Until our next Big Year.
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