A Vernal Pond and a Tale of the One Who Got Away

My husband wanted to go jogging, and the former Dry Hollow property has some decent trails for that. So we headed on over, and he jogged and I walked. There is a vernal pond along the main path that I always visit, and you may see it in this photo. It is the place where I tripped and fell over a stump on the far end of the pond.

I guess the far end of the pond is where all things happen here. For on this day, I was wandering along the edge, looking for amphibians and eggs, and admiring and photographing the reflections. Do you see those three green bushy shapes along the left edge of the pond (one big, to the left; two smaller ones toward the pond's middle)? The event I'm describing took place near the middle green bush.

I was walking along and suddenly, a small, brown, mottled, roundish bird took off from practically under my feet (at most, I was two or three feet away), without making much of a sound other than its wing flaps, leaving a small pile of poo behind. I suddenly realized two things: 1) it was not a bird I'd seen or photographed before, and 2) it reminded me a lot of pictures I'd seen of American woodcocks (Scolopax minor), sometimes informally called a timberdoodle.

If I were Ace Ventura, I'd have tasted the poo and been able to tell you what kind of bird from that alone; but there are some things I am NOT doing, not even in the name of science. So no bird poo tasting here, my friends; look elsewhere for that!

The bird took off instantly, and it flew over the pond and landed not far from where I (later) stood to take this photo. As it landed, two mourning doves came in from the field that is (in this shot) off to the left, and all three birds sort of interacted and startled each other, with "my bird" going to ground, and the two mourning doves taking flight, with much fanfare. (You know how those doves are; always chatty, such a ruckus!!!)

Though I walked all around the area where I saw the strange new bird go down, I never encountered it again. Either it is a VERY good hider, or it took off for parts unknown without me even seeing it. So it is definitely a good hiding bird and possibly a bit sneaky, as well!

So as it turns out, this vernal pond picture is just a fish tale, of the bird who got away without my snapping even a SINGLE EFFING PHOTOGRAPH!!! Seeing the bird was the delight of my day. Missing the shot was the downer of my day, but better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.

Here are some things about woodcocks:
1) The males do a tremendous mating flight ritual display.
2) They are fine dancers. (Honestly, WATCH the video!)
3) Here is American woodcock info on the Cornell bird site.
4) Here is Audubon info about these birds.

Now, I have shared on here the stories of my husband and I rescuing two birds in the past few weeks (phoebe here, female cardinal here). Since then, birds have really been showing up a lot, and doing things in front of me, and looking at me, and making themselves available to me in strange ways.

(You've heard of a bird in the hand being worth being two in the bush; well, I've had TWO in the hand and now ONE in the bush who escaped me. Somebody figure out and tell me the bird math we should calculate on all of that.)

My husband says it might be that I have some kind of temporary bird "shining." Like in the movie The Shining, but it is a shining that only birds can see. Some kind of glow. I don't know if that's true but I like the story. Even if the birds I shine up to fly away before I can even get a single photo!

My soundtrack song is John Denver and Olivia Newton-John, with Fly Away. And I'm going to toss in a bonus one; here's Dolly with a cover of Collective Soul's Shine. (And yes, you're right; those ARE the members of Nickel Creek backing her up!)