good views of woodcock: your experiences (1 Viewer)

[Sc0tty]

A couple of years ago I switched on the security light to see if any hedgehogs were in the back garden and spotted this beauty strolling around. I rushed to get my camera and managed to get a record shot through the the patio windows. I checked around the following morning and could see it had deposited droppings everywhere!

 

[David Ferguson]

It was just after dawn on a bird race. Four of us were walking in single file along a narrow track in woodland when our leader flushed a Woodcock, but instead of flying off it walked for about 3m then stopped to look at us. We watched it in amazement for a couple of minutes then carried on with the race. That was in the late 80s and I have not seen one on the ground since. I suspect there was a nest nearby.

 

[Birdbrain]

Do share any memorable experiences of having good views of woodcock (Eurasian or any of the other species).

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I actually asked for advice on this forum, quite a while ago, on how to get good views of a woodcock in the UK. The only views I had managed were from a trip to Spurn (East Yorkshire) in the autumn, when every now and then a woodcock would suddenly fly out and land further away. I don't count those views as tickable.

The people I knew back in Britain told me that one was unlikely to get better views than that.

I've been staying in Hong Kong for a little over two years now. This week I had the amazing fortune of looking at a Eurasian Woodcock that was feeding beside an artifical drainage channel! A photo is included here.

View attachment 1494376

Had one land about 4ft away while standing having a cigarette (when i smoked) at my patio door one evening, after about 30 seconds it clocked me and was off. Hard to find easy to flush.

 

[Larry Sweetland]

I've only once seen Eurasian Woodcock on the ground. It was in the 80's, and IIRC it was in the Brecks in summer while looking for Golden Pheasant. Had unusually good flight views of a flushed one a couple of weeks ago on patch in Bristol.

Only other species of woodcock I've seen is Sulawesi Woodcock, one flushed twice but not seen on the ground even though I marked where it landed the first time.

 

[dantheman]

I'll admit to never having seen a Woodcock on the deck in daylight.

I should probably make more effort - they occur up at my place and I see them regularly in flight. I did have one come down maybe 50 feet away at night once - I could just about make it out and it did some feeding, but clocked me after a while.

 

[intellectual]

Only just seen this thread. Best view I ever had was a Woodcock (about 12 years ago) in my front garden about a foot from the front lounge window, it was at foot of the hypericum shrub, it looked tired out, I got lots of pics and a few videos, it was there about an hour looking for worms etc , it was there till postman came to door and flew off. Would have uploaded you a photo but not sure how to on here

 

[vergan]

Best observation was a bird on flight from home window. I have fairly good observations of eurasian and american woodcocks. As other mentioned, old memories from the past. They looked very well after.. being retrieved...

 

[kb57]

I've been quite lucky with woodcocks over the years, both with seeing roding birds at dusk and flushing birds inadvertently in winter, sometimes at very close quarters.
I can add to the observation of seeing them at the edge of roads in severe weather (coming presumably for water)- I remember seeing several on the roadside east of Rothbury, Northumberland in the cold 2009-2010 winters. But my best view ever was seeing one in bright sunlight on the ground at the edge of a woodland in the breeding season - also in Coquetdale, Northumberland, up near Holystone.

 

[Paul Chapman]

I have seen them frequently at the roadside in Finland and once in Scotland.

All the best

Paul

 

[Jacana]

Best view I've ever had was when I stumbled upon an adult and its 4, very young, chicks in some woodland in Sweden.

 

[Scott98]

I just spent the last two evenings looking for American Woodcock at a local park which is 500+ acres of hayfield merging into forest. This is the time of year where they come out after sunset and start calling and doing their mating dance and flight.

I must say that so far, it's total frustration! They don't make a sound until 20-30 minutes after sunset. At that point, the fields are abuzz with their buzzy quacking sounds, and the chittering sounds they make while flying. However....it's dark! I spent 45 minutes staring at the areas where I heard them. A few times I saw dark shapes flitting by in the air. One decent sighting of one under a bush, but too dark to see markings on him. I think one actually ran off the path in front of me, brief glimpse of his back before he too faded into the darkness.

The first night I tried 8x56 and last night 7x42 but neither was able to pull them out of the darkness. I was also thinking some kind of IR instrument would be needed to find them. Otherwise it's birding by ear. The sounds of their calls and flight sounds were literally surrounding me and echoing off the hills but I could not see them!

 

[Stonefaction]

Mostly seen Woodcock on the ground in one particular Angus Glen, mostly in May (when looking for summer migrants). Sometimes from a car, but also while on foot.

Photos - Woodcock

Video -

 

[SlowLowFlyingTurkey]

Having heard a lot about how hard they are to see well, my first ever sighting was while walking on a path through pine plantation near West Stow in Suffolk, when one just walked out onto the path in front of me. It stood for a few seconds then saw me and flew off down the path. Never had such good views since.

Once at Titchwell, a guy had his scope on one sitting just off the path in the woods. Judging by the angle of the scope it couldn't have been more than a metre form the path, but I just couldn't see where it was with the naked eye. Only down the scope.

All my other sightings have been flushed or roding. Some of the roding birds have been seen well when they start well before it gets dark.

The only other species I've seen is Bukidnon Woodcock at Mt Kitanglad, Philippines, where I'm sure others here would have seen it too.

I'd love to see American Woodcock, especially after seeing them on Youtube videos:

 

[Farnboro John]

I was at Dungeness twitching a Short-toed Treecreeper that had gone into the bushes in the trapping area. I'd had several views but after a coffee break wanted more and returned to the area. I eventually found a small group of birders peering into the base of a bush from within its canopy and asked them for directions. Curiously, they said right at the base of the trunks, on this side. I looked, couldn't see it, asked for more directions. They said left hand side of the base, just slide down the left-most trunk to the bottom of it. I still couldn't see it, from about ten feet away! I asked: "Where is it from the Woodcock?" Oh, hang on.....

John

 

[Scott98]

I'm onto these things now....last night I heard one doing its thing right across the street in the neighbor's yard. I rushed out with my 8x56 but again couldn't get a fix on it. They come alive like clockwork about 30 minutes after sunset. They're no dummies, if I walk toward their quacking sound they go quiet as I approach.

The Moon is getting brighter now - thinking I'll try the hayfield again in a week as it approaches full moon. That should help with the lighting, will use 56mm glass exclusively next time.

The walking "dance" they do is pretty funny...almost like they're grooving to some internal 70's funk soundtrack we can't hear

 

[pianoman]

The two times I've had a really good view were both from the car, driving past a suitable woodland edge, and both times on a fine evening near midsummer. i think that when the nights are really short, they are tempted out before sunset.

 

[SimonLS]

Not exactly a good sighting, but an unusual one - a December evening rush hour I was walking down a platform at London Liverpool St station and a Woodcock flew along the track of the adjacent platform and out on to the concourse.

 

[opisska]

Woodcocks are pretty common in both Poland and the Czech Republic, so seeing them in the evening flight is pretty easy. In Poland there are places where if you just sit there in the evening, there will be a basically constant show of flying woodcocks until it gets dark. I personally think of this as the proper way to see them - sure, they are not totally in your face, but you do see them quite nicely and it's really a unique show.

Only once I have seen a (Eurasian) woodcock up close on the ground and that was at night in late autumn in the middle of some fields in Poland, found in IR, probably on migration. I have seen American Woodcock quite nicely just by driving a track in a random forest in Minnesota at night, they were running around in headlights.

 

[Scott98]

I'm still working on this....around here they don't get active until it's almost completely dark. Have not be able to make a definitive sighting of one yet. The last few nights I've heard their quacking in the woods right around my house. Planning to use the bright moon this week to get a better sighting in the 8x56 at the hayfield location.