What started off as a single walk on March 19 to look for the American Woodcock at Broad Run Stream Valley Park turned into two walks. Both walks were successful in finding the elusive bird.

At the first walk, leaders John Denice, Michael Sciortino and Bruce Hill were joined by 12 other birders. The walk started off with seeing a fox by the community garden. When the group got to the long pond, we were surprised to see a number of Wilson’s Snipes. We also had 16 Buffleheads and 10 Mallards. But the highlight was the nine woodcocks heard by the entire group. We also had some excellent sightings with two sets of two Woodcocks flying up together. There was a beautiful sunset  to top it all off.

John led the follow-up walk on March 21 with four participants. The fox was seen again, and we had 12 Buffleheads this time and two Mallards. During this walk, a Red-tailed Hawk flew right at the group and then flared and turned around giving us a fantastic look. We heard five woodcocks and got to see three of them. One did the display flight right over our heads, and we also got to see two others together. For some of the group, it was their first time seeing an American Woodcock in flight.

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