Photo by Kellen McCluskey

Thursday, February 2

There's a lot to love about February at the Arboretum! While bare trees and shrubs provide views of the forest architecture, tiny patches of green are beginning to appear on the forest floor. It's a great time to search for birds and wildlife and to take a walk immersed in the stillness of the winter woods.

A nice selection of programs is on tap for this month, too. We hope to see you!

• The Arboretum's new Winter Forest School launches Tuesday, February 7. In this six-week all-outdoors program, students will get close to nature and learn to love chilly days. Learn more and register here.

• Also on February 7, biological scientist Timothy Christensen will discuss the fascinating evolutionary strategy of animal venom. Understanding Animal Venom is a virtual program, which means you can join the conversation without leaving home. Click here to register so you can receive an invitation to access the program.

• Certified forest guide Shelli Smith will lead Valentine Forest Bathing on Saturday, February 11. Join a friend, partner, or loved one to slow down, experience the forest together, quiet your minds, and connect with nature and each other. Register here.

• The practical uses and advantages of essential oils are versatile and unique—each oil has a story to tell. On February 11, join Olga Hoffman to learn the history of oils and to make a blend to take home. Register here.

• Geocaching is a fun outdoor activity and a great way to explore in nature. Saturday, February 18, join naturalist Katey Nelson to learn to find treasure in the woods using GPS technology. We'll also place a new cache of swag created during class. The program is designed for children ages 8 and up, though kids ages 5–7 may attend with an adult. Learn more and register here.

• Join botanical artist Lee D'Zmura on Friday, February 24 for a Pear Watercolor Study. This workshop introduces basic color mixing and blending, the use of masking, and finishing details to create a pear study in watercolor. Click here to register.

Saturday, February 18 offers the opportunity to join a stellar educational program at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Symposium, held at the Maritime Conference Center in Linthicum.

Sponsored by the Perennial Plant Association and the Horticultural Society of Maryland, the symposium will include an excellent lineup of speakers, diverse and inspirational sessions, and opportunities for networking. An annual high point for many gardeners in the Mid-Atlantic, the event is being held in person for the first time since 2019.

The registration deadline is February 15. Visit perennialplant.org for more details and to register.

...Mudsnipe, Brushsnipe, Big-eye, Doods, Mudbat, Little Russet Fellers, Timber Rocket, etc.

The American Woodcock is a strange bird…to see, to hear, and to dissect…hence its many nicknames. Gretchen Messick was enjoying the beauty of Adkins during the Christmas holiday and, while wandering along the Blockston Branch path, she spotted a rockin’ American Woodcock, but it was not around a Christmas tree. Woodcocks sometimes have an unusual and mysterious way of walking that is best described as a rocking motion, but more about that later. I thank Gretchen for her observant eyes with probably the first sighting of a Woodcock at Adkins.

The Woodcock lives and breeds in the eastern part of the U.S., with those breeding in the northern half migrating to the southern half during winter. They are year-round residents of Delmarva, except during cold winters, when they will head farther south. They migrate slowly, covering 25 to 30 miles during the night while flying at an altitude of about 50 feet, which may be the lowest migration altitude of any bird. Although it usually flies faster, the Woodcock has the slowest flight speed ever recorded for a bird, at 5 mph. A brisk walk by humans is about the same speed.

Left: American Woodcock. Photo courtesy of Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection.

Right: The prehensile bill of a Short-billed Dowitcher. Photo courtesy of The Freiday Bird Blog.

The Woodcock is about 12 inches long and weighs up to half a pound. They are plump, short legged, big headed, no necked, short tailed, and long billed (about 2 ¾ inches). The cryptically colored back and head can make them almost impossible to see when they sit on a forest floor. They eat mostly worms, which they find by probing into soft earth with their long bill. The end of the bill is prehensile, meaning it can open at the tip, and it is filled with receptors to help it sense prey.

The eyes are set far back in its head, far enough that it can see behind itself. This is helpful for keeping an eye out for predators when your nose is buried three inches in the ground. The evolution of the eye location influenced its ears. Unique among birds, its ears are below the eyes, not behind. But wait, there’s more! To accommodate pieces of its head being scrambled, its brain is rearranged so that it is essentially upside down.

The Woodcock has two other traits that add to its panache: its wonderful mating flight display and its rocking motion when walking. The sky dance begins in February and peaks around here in March and early April, but it can continue longer. It begins with a peenting call (listen here) at twilight in open fields close to the bird’s wooded habitat. Aldo Leopold provides a beautiful description of this phenomenon in A Sand County Almanac:

"Suddenly the peenting ceases and the bird flutters skyward in a series of wide spirals, emitting a musical twitter. Up and up he goes, the spirals steeper and smaller, the twittering louder and louder, until the performer is only a speck in the sky. Then, without warning, he tumbles like a crippled plane, giving voice in a soft liquid warble that a March bluebird might envy. At a few feet from the ground, he levels off and returns to his peenting ground, usually to the exact spot where the performance began, and there resumes his peenting."

This infrared video captures the sounds and the flight. Turn up the volume so you don’t miss a peent or warble.

The male will mate with multiple females and does not help the female with incubation or care of the young. The young are born precocial and leave the nest within hours of hatching. Mom feeds the young for about a week, but they begin to probe after three or four days. They have a high nesting success rate, 60–75% with low juvenile mortality.

American Woodcocks (but not the European Woodcocks) can display a rocking motion while walking (see here). The purpose of this rocking remains a mystery, but different hypotheses are as follows:

• The movement imitates a leaf blowing on the forest floor and helps hide the bird.

• A nervous reaction caused by suspicion or fear.

• The foot placement puts pressure on the ground that causes worms and insects to move and be detected and eaten.

• The rocking makes the Woodcock conspicuous to predators and is defense against a potential attack. In other words, I see you, and my rocking motion tells you I see you and am aware of you, and if you attack me you will not be successful. Noted scientist and nature writer Bernd Heinrich proposed the last hypothesis after hours of studying the Woodcock but admits more work needs to be done. He believes this behavior is like the White-Tailed Deer flashing its tail while running away and Pewees pumping their tail while sitting on a branch. Note: this can be a difficult concept to grasp, but it is an accepted behavior throughout nature.

Ms. Messick’s birding skills lead me to believe that the South Meadow or Nancy’s Meadow at Adkins could be prime spots for the Woodcock’s sky dance. I plan to spend twilight time there this spring to stop, look, and listen.

Please contact me at [email protected] with any questions.

Jeobirdy Answer: This is the origin of the word "timberdoodle."

Jeobirdy Question: What are "woods" and "silly" or "foolish"? "Doodle" has an archaic meaning of silly or foolish. I will not speculate on the origins of the many other names.

Jeobirdy Answer: Woodcocks belong to this family of birds.

Jeobirdy Question: What is Scolopacidae or Sandpiper? The Wilson's Snipe is another unlikely member of the Sandpiper family.

Jim Wilson

Birder/Arboretum volunteer

As you walk the Arboretum grounds in February, you will find abundant flora and fauna that are inspiring subjects for sketching. The native trees, grasses, and perennials continue to quietly take in nutrients, gather their forces, and fatten their buds. But it is an exciting time in the winter woods, as the first ephemeral wildflowers of the year are emerging. Let's go find them!

Standing at the back door of the Visitor's Center, face the South Meadow and turn right on South Meadow Loop. Veer right at the Native Bee House and walk into the woods. As you descend to the first bridge over Blockston Branch, enjoy the view. The small hills and dales carpeted in fallen leaves and studded with bare tree trunks are a stark, subtle study in grays and browns, with occasional accents of bright green mosses. Young American beech trees (Fagus grandifolia) create a lacy pale tan pattern in the wooded understory. They still bear last year's leaves, which whisper in the winter wind with a lovely rattle. In spring, when new leaves emerge from their slender pointed buds, the old leaves will finally fall.

Stop on the first bridge over Blockston Branch and look down at the floodplain. One of Maryland's earliest spring wildflowers, eastern skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus), is coming to life. This plant has the ability to produce heat even if the ground is frozen, which allows it to melt surrounding snow as it emerges and blooms. The blossom rises from the damp muck and leaf litter and takes on a sensuous form reminiscent of a Georgia O'Keeffe painting. Look for a pointy green-and-purple mottled hood (spathe) about six inches tall, with an opening on one side revealing a mass of tiny petal-less true flowers on a knob (spadix). The flowers emit a fetid odor that attracts pollinators like flies and carrion beetles.

As the flower fades in March and April, large bright green leaves unfurl and create a lush tropical look. By early summer, the spadix has become a two-inch round fruit head with compartments containing pea-sized seeds. As the leaves fade in August, the fruit head falls apart, and the seeds germinate to start new plants or are eaten. Skunk cabbage has a very large root system, with roots that contract and pull the plant deeper into the soil each year. This plant is named after the skunk-like odor emitted when a leaf is crushed, as well as the scent of its blossom.

Also observe here the low-growing, heart-shaped evergreen leaves of golden groundsel (Packera aurea). This groundcover spreads by rhizomes and will form rosettes of leaves around the single leaves you see now. In April and May, flower stalks measuring about 18 inches tall emerge from the rosettes and bloom with rayed flowers that, en masse, create breathtaking clouds of yellow floating above the moist woodland floor.

As you walk, keep looking and observing. What else can you find to sketch?

Words and sketch of eastern skunk cabbage by

Diane DuBois Mullaly

Fine artist/Maryland Master Naturalist

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