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Don Wademan, of Factoryville, listens to the distant ‘peent’ sound of an American woodcock, while keeping his eyes peeled for the elusive bird, binoculars in hand.

Watching for woodcocks at Lackawanna State Park, from left, Julie and Don Wademan, of Factoryville and Yvonne and Fred Marshall, of Dallas.

During a Woodcock Watch at Lackawanna State Park, Don and Julie Wademan, of Factoryville watch and listen for the elusive nocturnal bird.

NORTH ABINGTON TWP. — Timberdoodle, big eye, bogsucker, labrador twister and mudsnipe are all colloquial names for the American woodcock, scientifically referred to as Scolopax minor.

A small group of bird watchers gathered Thursday evening, April 2 at the Environmental Education Center at Lackawanna State Park for a short presentation about woodcocks by Environmental Education Specialist Angela Lambert. There, they learned that woodcocks, or whatever one chooses to call them, have even more unique attributes than nicknames.

Following the presentation, the birders ventured out to the woodcock’s most likely habitat within the park in hopes of catching a glimpse, or a least hearing the mating call, of the elusive, mostly nocturnal bird.

Although the windy evening made for less than ideal woodcock-sighting conditions, as twilight deepened, the distant “peent” sound of the male’s call could be heard. Soon, Lambert spotted the first bird ascend in its mating dance and as the group scanned the sky, the bird swooped down, disappearing into the young-growth trees and shrubs as fast as it appeared.

“Spring is in the air,” Lambert had told the group at the start of the presentation. “And we’re hoping it’s literally in the air tonight.”

As the evening came to a close, the visitors caught several more quick glances of the season in the night’s sky before darkness took over and they headed back to the parking lot.