The woodcock is a small, plump
bird. It has oversized eyes, an upside-down brain, a prehensile
bill, and can hear through its feet. Not unique enough? How about
that the woodcock has dark meat in the breast and white meat in the legs.
And, it has no gizzard! A true evolutionary wonder, there are
reasons for these features.
The woodcock is active in the
evening, feeding, mating, and migrating after the sun has set. Its
oversized eyes allow it to gather more light making night flight possible.
Even more so than most other birds, the
woodcock is a voracious feeder. Feeding almost exclusively on worms
and grubs, the woodcock uses sensitive pads on his feet to "hear" worms
crawling through their tunnels. Upon locating their prey, the
woodcock jams its bill into the soil. The woodcock then opens just
the tip of his bill to grab the worm and pulls it out of the hole.
The woodcock does not have a
gizzard because the woodcock does not need a gizzard. In other
birds, the gizzard holds stones that are used to mash and grind seeds and
plant material. Since the woodcock eats soft bodied worms and
larvae, a gizzard is not necessary and has been eliminated.
Finally, woodcock prefer to fly
instead of walk. Typically, they will fly to where they want to go,
then land only to walk a few feet from where they landed. Thus, a
bird may fly 60 miles in a night's migration, but only walk a few yards
that same day. As a result, the woodcock has a massive breast and
tiny legs. The breast are loaded with capillaries producing the
characteristic dark meat normally found in the legs of poultry. The
barely used legs do not require such a large number of capillaries and remain
pale.
The massive breasts allow a
threatened woodcock to explode into the air. A peep-peep-peep sound
adds to the confusion. This sound is not the woodcock's voice, but
is instead produced by air flowing between its wing feathers.
As the woodcock flies through a
thicket, it cocks left and right never hitting a twig or a leaf.
Such dexterity comes from its upside-down brain. The cerebellum
portion of the brain controls a birds motor skills. It is located on
the underside of the brain near the spinal cord. Normally, the
cerebellum is quite small. However, the woodcock has developed an
enlarged cerebellum. In order to accommodate this enlargement, the
woodcock's brain shifted forward to the point that it is all but
upside-down. The result is an extremely dexterous bird that rarely,
if ever, bumps into twigs and branches.
Most people who see woodcock do
so unexpectedly. There are three reasons why.
First, woodcock generally live in
areas that adjoin
