American Woodcock

A new one for the list!....we think. We went for a walk at Bronte Creek Provincial Park tonight around dusk. Dave read there were sightings of the Am. Woodcock in the area, so we thought we'd check it out. As we were walking, I did see a light brown bird fly in the field, but it was far ahead of me and the light wasn't great, so it could have been the Woodcock or it might have just been a Robin (not that I don't love the Robins, but it would be nice to know for sure if I actually saw the A.W.). Anyway, as we were heading back to the car, we heard repeated low calls "beep, beep, beep" and then a higher pitched noise that followed. I recorded some sound of it, but it's fairly windy out so the camera picked up more wind, although the beeping can be heard in the distance. Anyway, we come home and look up on whatbird.com and sure enough, we are confident it's a match to the Am. Woodcock. Our debate is this- does it count to add it to the life list or do we actually have to see it? Is sound ID enough to go on? I'd be curious to know what other birders do in this situation.

Here's the link to the whatbird.com page about the American Woodcock and the call can be heard there as well.
http://identify.whatbird.com/obj/980/_/American_Woodcock.aspx

NTERESTING FACTS

* The elaborate courtship ritual of the male American Woodcock may be repeated as long as four months running, sometimes continuing even after females have already hatched their brood and left the nest.
* In this species, there is no pair bond and the male provides no parental care. Nor is there any evidence of a social dominance hierarchy.
* These birds are seldom seen during the day. They are typically active during times of low light such as dawn, dusk, moonlit nights and sometime on cloudy days. They also migrate at night, singly or in small, loose flocks.
* A group of woodcocks has many collective nouns, including a "cord", "fall", "flight", "plump", and "rush" of woodcocks.


Oh and we also saw and clearly identified the Northern Mockingbird, along with Robins, Red-Winged Blackbirds and a Red-Tailed Hawk.