I did! I did!
On Thursday, I headed over to Liberty State Park. My mission was to shoot some footage, for a project to launch later this month. I was armed with my cell phone, binoculars, and a mug of tea. (What else does a field biologist really need?)
What I really wanted was iconic scenery to polish my video – and what better scenery is there than the Liberty State Park forest and Jersey City skyline for urban ecology?
In a last desperate hope to get the perfect shot, I decided to bushwhack through the young forest and phragmites to the field edge overlooking the Hudson River. Stumbling forward, deeply regretting heading off the beaten path, I was playing tug of war with each phragmites blade when all of a sudden from beneath my feet there was an explosion of feathers and a whirling whistle of terrified feathers shooting away from me. Lo and behold, I had stumbled across a late migrant woodcock.
Unfortunately, no video of the woodcock itself, but at least there is further confirmation of woodcock in LSP. Perhaps, we’ll get woodcock on the Christmas Bird Count this year, taking place on December 18th.
Woodcock Watch NJ 