Having worked in very remote, natural woodcock habitats in N.England I was
shocked to see 2 males tonight at the edge of rural yards (with variation of
upkeep) and a large forest block (S.Mtn State Park / AT lands north of
Weverton Bluffs) in Wash.Co.  The only real wet areas in the uplands here
are sad, abused streams with few to some trees lining them in the low areas
between used or fallow farm fields on low ridges.

All my tromping here the past 2 years hasn't brought a single 'peent'
anywhere in this valley, so this was totally unexpected - they're possibly
roaming the area from lower in the valley or scouring a active farm field /
woodland / stream junction, or passing through...so I'll see soon.   I
thought I was hallucinating 'peents' or some unknown frog, but then I got a
silouette of them when they took off...just totally took me off guard this
far up from the valley bottom.

BTW - if anyone knows a good area to see woodcock displays in so.east Wash
Co, post it...I'm now doing a good double take.

Kevin Caldwell
Washington Co.
Knoxville MD