Posted by Melanie Christenson on May 25, 2008

Q: HI there,

A few weeks ago my kids and I were out walking behind our house at dusk to see what creatures were out there. We live in Northern WI and our house backs up to a Christmas tree farm. As we walked we kept hearing a buzzing/quacking-type sound that at first we thought was maybe a frog of some type so we kept walking toward the sound. We soon realized that it was a bird that would make this sound every 5 seconds or so (I think). It would then fly up into the sky making this fast chirping/cheeping sound the whole time it flew. It would fly way high up in the sky soaring up almost into the clouds then all of a sudden it would swoop down into the trees near us and start it's quacking/buzzing sound. It kept repeating this always landing not too far from us in the trees. It was getting dark so I couldn't see any of the color and we were never close enough to get a very good judge of size on it. I would say it was a robin-sized bird or larger. We also often during the day time hear a similar quacking/buzzing sound although it's usually done with 2 buzzes in a row with a pause and then will do it again. I can't tell if this sound is different from the one we heard that night. Once I saw this bird and it seemed it looked a bit sparrow-like.

One more question. Why do grackels (and possibly other birds) fly with something white in their beaks and drop it intentionally different places? I think one of my kids thought it was bird poop. Are they cleaning out their bird nests? They seem to like dropping the white stuff on the top of our van in our driveway :-)

Thanks for any help!

Melanie

Habitat: field/meadow

State: Wisconsin

Habitat: field/meadow

A: I think you were witnessing a male Woodcock doing its flight display. Woodcocks are medium-sized, plump relatives of the sandpipers, but occupy wet meadows and forest edges. The males do the flight display during late evening (even late at night on moonlit nights) in the early spring to attract mates. A display typically consists of several harsh "peents" — made from the ground — then a high, spiraling flight during which modified primary feathers (at the tip of the wings) produce a twittering or whistling sound. The bird will fly as high as several hundred feet, at which point it flies steeply down to return to the ground near where he began.

I think your kid was correct — the Grackles you saw were most likely carrying what are called "fecal sacs" away from a nest. Nestling poop is typically enclosed by a thin membrane, making it easier for the adult to carry it off. In some species I have observed, young nestlings were induced to poop by an adult stroking the nestling's vent with its bill, then catching the resulting fecal sac before it even hit the nest. They would carry it off a hundred meters or so, then simply drop it in the woods. The adults probably do this to keep the nest clean so as not to attract disease and predators to the nest. They will often carry off eggshell fragments in a similar manner.

I hope this helps.

Solon Morse ( May 27, 2008)