Woodcocks dancing across the road
December 1, 2022 4:39 AM   Subscribe

 
I was wondering what on earth they were doing (aside from, y'know, expressing a certain joie de vivre), and apparently that bouncing dance is about hunting for worms?
posted by mittens at 5:24 AM on December 1, 2022 [3 favorites]


How much wood would a woodcock... wait, that's not it.
posted by DreamerFi at 5:31 AM on December 1, 2022 [9 favorites]


Go off, you funky li'l birbs.
posted by humbug at 5:40 AM on December 1, 2022 [2 favorites]


Talk about cockblocking.
posted by Fizz at 5:41 AM on December 1, 2022 [1 favorite]


Amazing Rare Video Footage of American Woodcock Dance and Freeze Kejimkujik Park Snipe yt

Love how the little baby woodcocks don't move until mama woodcock brings back the beat.
posted by fuse theorem at 6:16 AM on December 1, 2022 [1 favorite]


I was wondering what on earth they were doing (aside from, y'know, expressing a certain joie de vivre), and apparently that bouncing dance is about hunting for worms?

So they dance with rhythm to attract the worms! Clever.
posted by curious nu at 6:56 AM on December 1, 2022 [14 favorites]


They may prefer funk when they dance, but when they sing the prefer early 90s grunge.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:57 AM on December 1, 2022 [7 favorites]


I was wondering what on earth they were doing. . .

I was wondering if the music was diegetic or not because, you know, it's hard to ignore that beat.
posted by The Bellman at 7:38 AM on December 1, 2022


Their heads. Stay. Perfectly. Still.
posted by Splunge at 8:04 AM on December 1, 2022 [2 favorites]


Yet more of these in this previous thread.
posted by Bloxworth Snout at 9:05 AM on December 1, 2022 [1 favorite]


What I'm reading is that woodcocks do this as a signal to possible predators (ie, the guy with the camera) that predator has been observed and is wasting its time trying to sneak up on the wise woodcock. They apparently walk normally when observers are out of sight.
posted by SPrintF at 10:27 AM on December 1, 2022 [1 favorite]


We could do this dance in a circle around the bride and groom while they're doing the worm.
posted by waving at 11:16 AM on December 1, 2022 [1 favorite]


They apparently walk normally when observers are out of sight.
I heard if their path is blocked by a wall with two holes they'll go through through both of them.
posted by wilberforce at 1:38 PM on December 1, 2022 [5 favorites]


so that's how the hokey pokey got started
posted by pyramid termite at 1:56 PM on December 1, 2022


Also, their call is referred to as "peent":
posted by Xiphias Gladius at 3:43 PM on December 1, 2022 [5 favorites]


That’s a pretty good sixty seconds
posted by Going To Maine at 7:49 PM on December 1, 2022


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