All are welcome – no registration required – to join Naturalist Linda at The Rookery on Thursday, March 21, for a behind-the-bushes look at the courtship antics of the American Woodcock!
Meet at Great Blue Heron Lodge at 7 p.m. and plan to spend about an hour and a half with us. Together we’ll search for this goofy, pop-eyed, Pinocchio-beaker bird the size and shape of a football…and if you think that’s funny, just wait till you see what he does after dark!
Aptly named Skydance: Flight of the Woodcock, this program is timed on the calendar for optimum odds of witnessing the courtship display that makes this bird special and memorable. Please note that some wheelchairs and strollers may also have difficulty navigating the rough gravel surface.
During woodcock wooing, males scamper and “peent,” making a buzzy call that sounds like blowing raspberries, before launching into the air to perform an amazing aerial ballet. A spiraling ascent is accompanied by a twittering wing song, an aerodynamically-produced sound of air rushing through its outer wing feathers. Reaching the apex of its skyward climb, the woodcock them plummets back to Earth with a melodious song, which finally stops as the bird makes a careering swoop over the meadow, then a silent return to its “stage,” an opening among the shrub thickets.
Woodcock courtship is a true rite of spring – once witnessed, never forgotten! We hope you can join us.
For more on Geauga Park District offerings, please call 440-286-9516 or visit Geauga Park District online via www.geaugaparkdistrict.org, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or YouTube.
