Woodcock "conga line"

[PeterF.]

Last Spring I was working on the computer in the back room and the wife comes in saying, "You gotta see this".  I go in the kitchen and look out the window and there's 4 woodcock, a mama and 3 juveniles, all in a tight row (no more than 3 feet in all), and they're doing this wierd "dance".  All-together, in synch, they'd take one step forward, then bob up & down twice, then another step, bob twice.  Wierdest thing.  I looked it up in various books; everyone noted the woodcock "mating flight", but no one mentioned the "conga line" thing.  I don't see woodcock that often, so I don't have much experience with them.  Anyone else seen anything like this?  Sure wish I had a video camera.

[Lee]

Peter,   my guess is that this ritual was mama schooling the little ones in how to go about hunting for food.

I have never seen as you have described  but have seen other situations where birds instruct their chicks to hunt.

I saw a wren I believe one time catching tiny moths and making her little one follow along and chase before finally releasing the moth for the little one to catch.  Other times I have seen small birds with several chicks
learning to hunt, never in a conga line though.

From what I have observed over time there is a lot of teaching going on  until the little ones learn to provide for themselves.  Small birds have a lot to learn in order to survive.

Sounds like an interesting sight.

[Loader 3009]

Some birds apparently learn quicker than others, or maybe their instincts kick in sooner.  Some little ones leave the nest and go right out on their own, while others remain together as a "family" for their first year.

I had a wren nest in a cast bullet box in my reloading room.  She had to come in through a slightly opened window then through a door.  She would buzz me as I worked the Rockchucher.  The nest remains on the top shelf along with the eggs she abandoned.

The study of birds, alone, would require several lifetimes.  They are all so different in their ways, not to mention their appearance.  They did not evolve; they were created that way.