Greetings! In our first post since wrapping up last year's sampling effort, we're pleased to provide this fantastic shot of an American woodcock that we stumbled upon while collecting data at a Greenland stormwater-outfall site last week. Have you ever been timberdoodling and heard their unique "peent" call on the ground, or the distinct wing whistling as they fly in a spiral overhead? As for the wobbling, they are most peculiar in the way that they rock back and forth as they step along in the underbrush. Their wobbling is sometimes thought to be a way for uprooting worms (their primary source of food), but knowing how close we were to this little creature, it's suspected that they do so as a camouflage strategy--one that is quite amusing! It resembled leaf litter in the wind!
As for WRWC volunteers, we, too, are a bit wobbly and needing to stretch our wings outdoors. A perfect opportunity came along when Dr. Steve Jones from the Jackson Estuarine Laboratory approached the WRWC for help on a study to assess citizen involvement in local stormwater monitoring. Steve is the project coordinator for the Citizen Research Volunteers program, which is based out of the Lab. For more information, or to volunteer a couple hours once a week for the next 4-6 rounds, contact us! Happy Spring!
