A Woodcock Nest

     The other day, while cleaning out the flower beds in our yard, my wife casually mentioned to me in passing that she just flushed a robin-sized bird from a brushy area. She said it looked like it was sitting on a nest. My first reaction to this was, yeah right, a bird sitting on a nest. As I walked to the compost pile, I thought about what she had just said; bird, ground, nest. Then it hit me, Woodcock!

     I ran back to my wife and asked her to show me the exact place where she flushed the bird. After some very careful searching, I was able to locate a faint, shallow depression in the brush with one beautiful egg in it. This shallow depression and egg was the first American Woodcock nest I had ever found, or seen for that matter!      

     American Woodcocks build their nests on the ground in open woods or brushy fields. Not much is known about woodcock nest building, but the one discovered in my yard looks as if a small bowl was formed with material used from the site.

     As you can see from the photographs, the eggs are a gorgeous shade of brownish orange, with small spots and slightly larger blotches.

     According to Birds of North America Online, the rate of laying eggs has not been definitively studied, but it is presumed to be one a day. I would agree with that presumption based on what was found at the nest on three consecutive days. On the day the nest was discovered, there was only one egg detected. The second day, the day I took the photos, the female had dropped a second egg into the nest. On the third day, a third egg was laid. During this sequence of laying eggs, the female was not observed on or near the nest in the afternoon or early evening. However, my wife does confirm the bird was present throughout the morning, leading us to believe an egg is placed sometime then.

     Here are some American Woodcock nesting facts I have gleaned from the pages of A Guide To The Nests, Eggs, and Nestlings of North American Birds. Baicich and Harrison.

Eggs: Usually 4, occasionally 3-5. Incubation: By female only, 20-21 days. Nestling Period: Young tended by female alone, led from nest soon after hatching, grows rapidly, can fly a little at 15 days. At 25 days well grown and fly well.  

     As difficult as it is to see an American Woodcock, it is even more remarkable to observe and photograph its nest and eggs. This is one birding memory that is sure to last a lifetime.