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Timberdoodles at Butner Gamelands last night



Hi C-birders,

Led a smaller group back to Brickhouse Road last night for an encore
performance by the lekking Woodcocks. This time, instead of lining up by
the road, we started by walking down to the pond, where we were rewarded
with a Cooper's Hawk, a Great Egret and a chorus of 3-4 frog species. Then
we walked back uphill and positioned ourselves near the edge of the
scrubby pine trees in the field. Miraculously, a woodcock started peenting
from only about 25 feet away! Only one or two people could see it on the
ground, but we had great looks at it coming and going; and at one point,
it (there may have been 2-3 there, actually) took a "victory lap", flying
in a low circle around our group, about 10 feet high and 20 feet away from
us! We heard at least a few other woodcocks further off in the fields, and
a Great Horned Owl still further away.

Good birding!

Josh


Joshua S. Rose
Duke University
Department of Biology (Zoology, R.I.P.)

jsr6@duke.edu
http://www.duke.edu/~jsr6/