Next Month I can look for these

[Don in SJ]

Around St Patrick's Day a few years ago, I chased a bird up while detecting at an old homestead. The bird only flew a short distance than started to act funny and was trying to draw my attention, just like Killdeer birds do when you are near their nest.

Well, it was only middle of March and I surely thought there would be not active nests going on already, but as I carefully looked in the area where the bird took off, there were these three beautiful eggs laying in just a depression, no formal nest.

I saw one of these birds just this week at a homestead and it reminded me of the March nest finding of that year, so I dug into my archives to show the photo and really hope to find one this Spring and get a nice photo of the bird.

What is the bird? Well, it loves the ole Jersey homesteads, since its main diet I believe is earthworms and grubs, and with our poor soil conditions, they seem to concentrate around the very old homesteads that have long been abandoned in the woods but now have a good thick layer of worm loaded topsoil.

Hint, it is a game bird in some states.

Don

 

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[SC_hunter]

Would those be quail eggs? Looks familiar..

 

[Don in SJ]

Would those be quail eggs? Looks familiar..

No, about the same size but here is a big hint, they have a long bill for a smaller bird.

 

[Kas]

Grouse

 

[SC_hunter]

LOL...Snipe?

 

[SC_hunter]

Woodcock?

 

[Don in SJ]

Grouse

Much smaller than a Grouse, would not mind seeing one of them, they seemed to have vanished over the years in my area, along with Quail.

These birds are basically Eastern U.S as far as their range and they do migrate.

Don

 

[Don in SJ]

Woodcock?

Yes, it is a Timberdoodle nest

Don

 

[SC_hunter]

Don, a lot of the quail have gone to the wayside down here also. The main cause believe it or not has been because of the regular house cat. We do have a large number of foxes and they take their toll also.

 

[COUNTRY GIRL]

Neat! Now get back out there and get us a shot of mamma Timberdoodle.

 

[Excavator]

I thought for a moment you were showing us Killdeer eggs. Our local race track has a large gravel area that gets a lot of Killdeer eggs in the spring, they always put barricades around them. Imagine, a bird that would rather walk than fly.

Saw an article a couple of months back that said the Bobwhite Quail actually is on the decline. Haven't heard one for decades, used to hear them all the time, and see them running around. I think Whippoorwills are declining too, used to hear them every night, now it's really rare.

I want to see the Timberdoodle too!

 

[SgtSki in MI]

Woodcock are game birds in Michigan. They're safe around me though. They're too fast for me and it's way too much work to bag enough to make a decent meal. I'm content to let them scare the bejeebers outta me (along with the grouse) when I'm walking back to the truck from my deer blind in the evening. I'm surprised that they lay eggs in March though.

-SgtSki