Sorry for the late post.
I led a walk on the Kings Highway side of Huntley Meadows Park on Saturday,
2/27, specifically to observe Woodcock. Our group of 18 participants walked to
the "Woodcock" meadow, which is about 3/4 mile down the Hike Bike trail on the
right hand side. This meadow has, for the most part, not been cleared this
winter, where some of the other meadows were bush hogged and burned. The only
open space is the "road" through the meadow and a small burn area near the east
side of the meadow. It was also quite wet since we have had a bit of rain
lately. However this did not impede the Woodcocks from performing. We had
anywhere from 6 to 10 individual Woodcocks all displaying or flying from point
to point. There was so much activity an accurate count was not possible. They
started peenting at about 6:10, while it was still fairly light. Then as the
evening progressed they came out in numbers. Everyone was afforded great looks
at the flights of many individuals. Seeing them on the ground proved a little
more difficult owing to the meadows not being cleared. We may try one of the
other meadows next time.
There will be 4 more field trips led by park staff over the next 4 weeks, one
every Saturday. Please check out Parktakes for more information and to sign up.
PJ Dunn
Fairfax
