Dust billows up from behind my truck as I drive down the dirt road to my favorite location to see and photograph a strange little bird known as the timber doodle. Stopping on the side of the road, I step from my truck into a picture perfect late evening. The sun has just set but the western sky still glows bright orange and the sky is crystal clear. I love evenings like this.

Quickly I set up my tripod, camera, and most import, my flash. I grab my flashlight and walk towards a wet field with small trees on the edge of a large stand of woods. As I walk, I flash back nearly 30 years. I was a young naturalist, wide eyed and eager to see all the natural world had to offer. I am walking into the same field, this time with the best naturalist I have even known at my side. She is showing me the display flight of the timber doodle. What the heck is a timber doodle I ask her? She responds with the bird’s real name, American Woodcock. Oh, I said, still not knowing what the heck she is talking about.

Shortly after sunset, we stand in the field and wait quietly. A near by pond filled with Western Chorus Frogs is filling the night with their loud mating call. Then a loud noise breaks from the grass in front of us. It sounds like an electric buzzer. It’s the call of the American Woodcock. Every few seconds it gives another call—“peent”. Then suddenly it flies from the grass into the fading evening light. It flies up to a height of a couple hundred feet then starts to fly in a tight circle directly over our heads. I remember standing there, looking up and watching the display with my mouth open in utter wonderment.

I can hear a twittering and whistling noises coming from the woodcock above my head. It flies around and around several times before suddenly it drops from the sky like a rock, landing back where it left the ground and then it starts to call again—“peent”. That was my first experience with the mating display flight of the American Woodcock. It is something I will never forget.

Flash forward to present time, and I am walking with my camera into the field in the fading evening light. I have the same experience of flashing back and remembering my first experience each and every time I come to see the woodcock display flight.

The American Woodcock (Scolopax minor) is a plump, short legged shorebird that isn’t found at the shore. It favorite places are damp or wet meadows. It has a large head with an extremely long bill used to probe deep into the wet soils for insects and earthworms. It has huge eyes that are placed on either side of its head giving it the ability to see in front and behind at the same time.

The males perform this elaborate evening courtship flight each spring to impress the girls. Presumably the females are nearby on the ground, listening for a male with loud calls a good flight pattern. When she seen a male that is to her liking, she will approach the male on the ground. Together they will fly off a short distance to a location near by and mate. Afterwards the male returns to his dancing field and she will head back into the woods to find a place to nest which is usually at the base of a large tree.

Tonight I am here to photograph the male woodcock. I work my way into the field as quietly as possible and I wait. I am enjoying the end of the day and it’s getting very dark. From just 50 feet away I hear the first call of the night. I work my way up closer just as the male takes to the sky to perform his sky dance just as he and many generations before him have done for countless years.

His flight is perfect and he comes back down not 25 feet away from me and starts to call. I turn on my flashlight and spot him standing in the grass. Quickly I focus my camera and push the shutter release. The flash from my camera goes off and lights up the small woodland meadow. The male doesn’t even blink an eye, he just goes on calling. I’ve got my shot.

Many years have passed since that first night and there have been very few springs where I haven’t come to witness the woodcock display flight. Now I bring my wife and daughter to this place to see the magical sky dance of the woodcock. The field is the same but it is filling in with trees. The Chorus Frogs are still calling from the small pond and the woodcock are still dancing and displaying and I am still hear to see the dance of the timber doodle. Until next time…