Learn about the Woodcock Sky Dance at the Leonard Preserve
From Birds in Literature by Abby Churchill, 1911: “How many evenings have I tempted malaria germs. . . . to watch the woodcock perform his strange sky dance! He begins on the ground with a formal, periodic peent, peent. It is repeated several times before he springs from the ground and on whistling wings sweeps out on the first loop of a spiral which may take him three hundred feet from the ground. Faster and faster he goes, louder and shriller sounds his wing-song; then after a moments pause, with darting, headlong flight, he pitches in zigzags to the earth, uttering as he falls a clear, twitter-ing whistle.”
Join Naturalist Kelsey Dehring on April 13 from 7:30 to 9:30 pm in the Leonard Preserve to learn more about and experience the delightful aerial display of the American Woodcock. During spring nights, the males perform an elaborate routine to impress females, providing a quirky sign of spring that you don’t want to miss! The parking lot and entrance to the Leonard Preserve is at 375 North Union Street. Wear waterproof boots, as parts of the trail can be very wet and muddy.
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