{"id":14796,"date":"2025-06-21T18:25:36","date_gmt":"2025-06-22T01:25:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/?p=14796"},"modified":"2025-06-22T05:29:06","modified_gmt":"2025-06-22T12:29:06","slug":"timberdoodle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/2025\/06\/timberdoodle\/","title":{"rendered":"timberdoodle"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>I&#8217;ve wanted to see one of these for so long&#8230; and yesterday I saw one! Not only one, but a hen with five or so chicks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p> They were crossing the road. My friend was driving and stopped for them. It took a moment to register that they were not quail, but had long beaks, even the babies. It took another few moments to remember they were &#8220;woodcocks&#8221; (not &#8220;woodsnipe&#8221; as I originally wanted to call them). I didn&#8217;t have the presence of mind to take a photo or video so this photo from Wikipedia will have to do. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"358\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/img_0014-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-14795\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/img_0014-1.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/img_0014-1-300x215.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Woodcock (photo from Wikipedia)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>A few of their many folk names:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>timberdoodle,&nbsp;mudbat,&nbsp;bogsucker<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>night partridge, Labrador twister<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>brush snipe, hokumpoke, becasse<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The chicks were little balls of fluff, with a long pointy beak sticking out. The last one hesitated crossing the double yellow line. I don&#8217;t know what he was waiting for. Maybe he was afraid or rebellious. He demonstrated a little of the rocking motion these birds are known for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Example of their dance from YouTube: <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/xWy7wSvb1SI?si=DxpJkc3qg0vx1Uy8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Woodcock and chicks<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Seeing these birds strengthened my heart. I&#8217;m ready to get over some problems that have been really bothering me for awhile and this felt like a turning point. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Out of curiosity, I searched &#8220;meaning of woodcock&#8221; in Google and found this website: <a href=\"https:\/\/spiritualityanimals.com\/animals\/spiritual-meaning-of-woodcock\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">spiritualityanimals.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I can&#8217;t know whether the author of the site knows anything at all. The photo they display of a woodcock doesn&#8217;t look like a woodcock, for example. (Although it is in the sandpiper family.) But this description held my interest:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>The primary spiritual meaning of the woodcock centers on the power of <strong>grounded intuition and the wisdom of stillness<\/strong>. This unique bird, with its deep connection to the earth, reminds us to trust our inner senses and to find profound insights in quiet observation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The woodcock\u2019s distinctive behavior of probing the soil with its long bill symbolizes the need to look beneath the surface of things to find true nourishment, both physically and spiritually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Its famous \u201csky dance,\u201d a mesmerizing aerial courtship display, represents the harmonious connection between the earthly and the divine, urging a balance between our practical lives and our spiritual aspirations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ultimately, the woodcock serves as a powerful emblem of patience, trusting the unseen, and understanding that true awareness often comes not from frantic searching, but from a state of quiet receptivity.<\/p>\n<cite><a href=\"https:\/\/spiritualityanimals.com\/animals\/spiritual-meaning-of-woodcock\">https:\/\/spiritualityanimals.com\/animals\/spiritual-meaning-of-woodcock<\/a><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now I want to see one doing the sky dance!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;ve wanted to see one of these for so long&#8230; and yesterday I saw one! Not only one, but a hen with five or so chicks. They were crossing the road. My friend was&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14795,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[472],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-birds"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14796"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14796\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14809,"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14796\/revisions\/14809"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}