Seeing a woodcock during daylight hours is just a matter of luck. Once you have
located the proper environment, such as the wet woods of TTP, then you just roam
around the barely discernible trails, or make your way through the bush without a trail.
Rubber boots are a must but no matter what you ultimately wear on your feet you are
going to make noise on the dead leaf litter. That's why I slowly dragged my feet through
the flood water. Keeping my feet in the water avoided the noise made by lifting your
feet out of the water with each step. I was completely quiet using this technique but
it is hard on the hips. Woodcocks are usually located near the water but
not actually in the water. They like worms. Any doofus can flush a woodcock. Just walk
around, which makes noise and will likely flush a woodcock. Your motion may actually
be doing the flushing more than the noise you make, I don't really know.
The first two flush events were on the west side of the concrete slabs in the wet woods.
The third closer flush occurred on the east side of the flooded area just east of the concrete
slabs. The two in flight at the same time were also in this area. They flew towards me closing
the distance from about 60 meters to 30 meters. One of those two birds is the one that flushed when I
was only 5 meters away in my attempt to enter the area they landed in while also keeping the sun
behind me.
Woodcocks will call "preet" at dusk or just after sundown and you might be able to locate one by homing in
on the call, although there might be many calls. With a powerful flashlight you could
find them because the light will be reflected by their eye and they are then more approachable.
There were several woodcock calling at the western end of East Point Trail in Scarborough. I was
going to go there this evening and see if I could hear any but something else came up, as always.
