Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2001 18:45:05 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Shireen Gonzaga Subject: Re: woodcock MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Many people responded to my woodcock query last week, and I want to thank you for taking the time to respond to my desperate pleas. I am happy to report success. Last Friday, Gail Frantz and Keith Costley invited me to the Exxon station on Red Run Blvd. in Owings Mills. They claimed there were woodcock in a field behind the station. I got there early, a few minutes before sunset and didn't see anything. After a while, Keith arrived with a bright spotlight and a scope. We chatted, waited, looked, and listened, but didn't see anything. Around deep dusk, Gail showed up with another spotlight, slightly out of breath. Shortly after her arrival, and by now, it was quite dark, we started hearing the woodcock calls. Somehow, in the dark, Keith managed to find a woodcock. He got the bird in the scope for me. He and Gail illuminated the bird with their spotlights, allowing me a wonderful view of it through the scope. I could even see it move its bill while it vocalized. I was exhilarated! I finally got my life woodcock. But later that night, as I lay in bed playing back the evening's events in my head, I realized there was something fishy going on. Why did the woodcock start calling after it had become quite dark, only after Gail arrived? How did Keith manage to locate a bird in the darkness? And *why* was Gail out of breath when she arrived. I started to grow quite suspicious. Here's my theory. Earlier that evening, Gail and Keith set up a painted cardboard cutout of a woodcock in the field. It was good enough to look quite realistic in the dark, illuminated by spotlights. There was even a small reddish mirror in the eye so I would think it was eyeshine from the spotlights. The bill was probably hinged, connected to a remote-controlled mechanism. Hidden in the bushes, in three widely-spaced locations, were remote-controlled tape recorders. Gail was probably putting the finishing touches to it, which is why she arrived late and out of breath. And it explains how Keith was able to find a woodcock -- in the *dark*. They were very clever, Keith and Gail, and I was quite flattered that they went to such great lengths, just to get me a life woodcock. The synchronization of bill movements with taped calls was inspired, positively brilliant. I even wondered if they had purchased a robotic woodcock. Nah, they were probably too cheap for that. Anyhow, I went away that Friday night quite giddy with excitement from seeing the woodcock and inhaling gas fumes. cheers, shireen -- Shireen Gonzaga Baltimore, MD whimbrel@home.com ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================