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By the end of February, the American Woodcocks at Mason Farm near Chapel Hill have been calling on territory for the better part of two months.  It’s one of the many advantages to life south of the Mason-Dixon line, and I don’t know whether it’s the mild winters or the wintering birds forcing our residents [...]

The Management are out of the office this week and in the absence of adult supervision, the beat writers have been running amok. The minimum-wage work force broke into the executive sherry cabinet and toasted the fat cats who can afford to take a vacation during the peak season and when the big cheeses from the Big [...]

Pardon this post’s provocative title but now that I’ve got your attention, let’s talk about woodcocks. That strangest of shorebirds, Scolopax minor has long been a nemesis of mine. Every spring, I’ve endeavored to enjoy its daffy dusk ritual or hear its plaintive peent but every spring I’ve failed. 2008 seemed like the year that [...]

It was Friday night so what did I do? I went birding. Wait, on a Friday night? Yeah, say what you will, but I was out looking for my first Timberdoodles of the year. The cute, chunky, cryptically-colored, snipe-like, short-legged, long-billed, crepuscular, dancing and displaying bird had already been reported in the area and I [...]