Several American Coots (Fulica americana) decided to stand on a log and pretend to walk on water. There were a lot more of these birds today, thanks to the warmer weather. Nearby, I spotted a new bird.
This is a Ring-Necked Duck (Aythya collaris), a species of Duck which I never had a clear picture of before. It should honestly be called Ring-Billed Duck, because as far as I can see, there is no ring on the neck. After this, I went home. In the process of closing the shades at home near dusk in my suburban house, I spotted a bird and shouted for my family to come over. "Holy crap, it's an American Woodcock!" was the exact phrase used. Thanks to my brother for grabbing my camera. Can you see the bird below?
This bird, also known as Bogsucker, Hokumpoke, Brush Snipe, scientifically as Scolopax minor, and, my personal favorite, Timberdoodle, is not a common bird in this part of the world. It's a bird that's hard to find even when it is common. The Timberdoodle is found in spring and summer in Illinois, in brushy wet areas and second-growth moist forests. This is a suburban sideyard under an Asian Magnolia between two houses. This bird is clearly lost. It spotted me as soon as I opened the shade, and completely froze, relying on its camouflage to disguise it. It might have worked, too, but it was nearly under the window as is, so it was easy to see. This bird is probably not particularly rare in Central Illinois, especially this time of year, but if they are frozen like this, they are likely to be impossible to see.
Here we are. You can see the bird's long bill. This is essentially the American version of the New Zealand bird the kiwi. Like the kiwi, the Timberdoodle eats earthworms and forages under leaves with a flexible bill. Among the achievements of the Timberdoodle are such feats as the slowest recorded flying bird (five miles per hour), possibly the greatest visual range of any bird's eyesight (nearly 360 degrees) and the snipe hunt (like in the movie "Up", for example). This bird is a member of the snipe family of birds, and in Eastern North America, this is the snipe to hunt for. Some hundreds of thousands of Timberdoodles were killed last year by "snipers". That's where that word comes from. As a small-bodied game bird with excellent camoflage, the 'brush snipe' was a hard target to hit and a hard target to find. Thus, the snipe hunt begins, where a person is taken to a lonely wood and told to go look for this bird. The person who told them to look for the snipe leaves the "snipe hunter" in the woods as a practical joke, until the would-be hunter realizes what happened. As a matter of fact, this joke was taken even further on occasion. The gullible person left in the woods would be given a bag and told to "hold the bag" while the other person ostensibly drove the bird into the bag. Of course, the gullible individual would be left "holding the bag", thus resulting in that phrase as well.
Practical joke or no, the Timberdoodle is a beautiful bird, with the subtle banding on its head and back making it a handsome bird. Perhaps the most fascinating fact about the Timberdoodle is that, in order to drive worms out of the ground, it does a peculiar bobbing dance that vibrates the ground to scare up its food. This was recorded and set to music by somebody on the web, and the video is below. I watched this happen, and attempted to record it, but something fouled up and I didn't get the video. So, as a substitution, see the video below. Trust me, it's quite humorous.
Rock on. Tomorrow I'm off to Starved Rock to solve the great hemlock mystery and see if there are any saplings to prove that this is a reproducing population. There will be a post about that within two to three days, so stay tuned.
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