I was a weekend warrior- for a mere two hours- in Greenwood Cemetery Sunday. After yesterday's washout and the workweek ahead, today was my best chance for a woodcock sighting in the afternoon.
Dennis H's Brooklyn Bird club walk this morning targeting woodcocks helped. He replies to my text of seeing six tomberdoodles. So that was that.
At two this afternoon I entered the Cemetery's Fort Hamilton entrance. For the next hour I was luckless flushing any doodle. I did see two gorgeous Fox Sparrows and some juncos showing nice contrast.
Taking a hunch a spot that bore reliability in the past, the Warrior Path had paid off in timberdoodle timing. And I was lucky and right! At the bottom of the slope by the path,a quick brownish whiff and I knew it had to be a woodcock; on my slow approach towards some broken pine ground branches where I suspected it landed, it again took off with no visibility for me to see its next landing spot.
Searching again with scanning the ground my best tactic, I figured it landed in undergrowth or shrub edging. Again scanning a spot, I got my boid! Approaching double old headstones, my blind enabled me to see the hidden woodcock well. Happiness is mine.
The old headstone served as a good prop for my 45 degree binoculars to allow me to take "binphotos " with my cellphone. The photo isn't great but I inserted a star; look right above in the shaded spot you can see the resting woodcock.
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| Along the Warrior path |
