Woodcock Making their way Northeast
21.05.12
This past week Bob Brophy found a woodcock in his front yard in Essex. This is a fairly common sight right now as the woodcock are streaming through Massachusetts in their annual migration north from Alabama and Mississippi. They left in late January and early February and have been slowly but steadily working their way toward their nesting grounds in Northern New England, Atlantic Canada and Quebec. Flying almost exclusively at night, these small birds follow their inner radar and, in one of nature's many mysteries, find their way back to the same areas where they were hatched out.
Woodcock do not fly in flocks like ducks or geese. Instead, they move as individuals all at about the same time going to the same place. The males leave the wintering grounds first, but all of the birds arrive at their nesting grounds at about the same time (okay, we all know us males are a little bit slower and never stop to ask for directions)! They cover the most ground during the nights when there is a lot of moonlight, but they do fly a ways almost every night.
Source: Gloucester Daily Times