This is the surest sign that spring is not far off. The male woodcocks have returned and set up their courtship stands.
To attract the female they make this frog-like sound, which is usually called a “peent.” I heard tons of these woodcocks last night. The woods were full of them. This was the one that gave me the best recording.
Funny you should say that – a sound very evocative of what’s coming from our garden pond right now.
Talking of frogs (since no one seems to want to discuss woodcock yet) I have always seen Kermit in an anthropomorphic light. For twenty five years our garden pond had scores of mating pairs thrashing about at this time – and then last year disaster struck as only two young males turned up. This was almost certainly due to the “worst ever” winter we’d just had. Therefore this year after “the mildest winter ever” we were expecting the frog population of our pond to go back to normal. We were wrong as again it seemed there were just these two scrawny looking ‘kermits’ bobbing up and down amongst the pondweed. However, this afternoon there it was in the shallows, this blob of seemingly viable spawn six inches across, so obviously either one of them is female or else there is a third shyer arrival lurking somewhere. I can hear some croaking so maybe there will be more frog action tomorrow – fingers crossed! I do love frogs – plus the toads and newts which follow.
Cool. I’d never actually seen a woodcock until yesterday, when the dogs accidentally flushed one on our morning walk in the woods at a local park. Funny because even though I’ve never seen one live before and I got only a glimpse, I knew immediately what it was from the long beak, and the habitat. Now that I know what they sound like I’ll play closer attention.
It’s only at dusk and this time of year.