American Woodcock

Deborah, Maria, Emily and I were headed to the Muskegon Wastewater and were driving on Osborne road south of Big Star Lake. This road is not paved and goes through deep green, rather wet, woods. Deborah suddenly stopped, as there was a mature Woodcock and two, still downy, small Woodcock babies in the road. Now, Woodcocks aren't seen that often and are incredible masters and mistresses of camouflage, so to see these was exciting! And furthermore, they were basically just staying in the road and then began rocking or bobbing up and down. It was the most amazing thing to watch. We wondered if the parent was trying to get them across the road and thought, perhaps, they couldn't fly. But they bobbed away, the little ones also, and for a bit weren't even moving except for the up and down motion. We watched for a couple of minutes which is long in bird-watching time, especially with birds as secretive as Woodcocks. And then, they slowly did begin moving across the road. The parent disappeared in the grasses, and all at once the little ones flew the short distance into the cover.

Also, right about this time, two red-tailed hawks starting flying about, looking very big up close like this. I almost always see red-tails out in open country high in the sky, slowly soaring in wide circles. Since red-tails do eat birds on occasion, we thought perhaps they were hunting these adorable fledglings who looked quite vulnerable and delicious hanging out in the middle of the road. If you don't know what a Woodcock looks like, it is worth a google. You will see why we were excited, and perhaps we foiled the hawks' hunt, if, indeed, that is what was going on.

At the MWW, we saw sandhill cranes (thanks to Emily's sharp eyes), Upland Sandpipers flying about and vocalizing like crazy, Horned larks, Dickcissels and a Bobolink along with the more usual birds. There are places this time of year on the Wastewater property where the grasses and wildflowers are lush. This morning, the sun was strong, but there was also an east breeze. The combination of sun, cooling wind, good birds and bird songs, blue sky, colorful flowers, lush grasses, gravel road and the sweet floral perfume made this outing perfect. The lagoons were almost empty of birds but the surrounding fields were full of them.