It must have rained timberdoodles Friday night, because Saturday morning I came across 25 of them in Green-Wood. This shattered my record. Another three were probably repeats, flushed from here to there.
A cold front fall of American Woodcock. (Besides fall of woodcock, plump, cord, and rush are recored as collective nouns for them; I hereby nominate “fluster” because they make a noisy fuse when flushed.) I got a hint this might be the case because on Friday, people were reporting a lot of them smashed up in the city. These are low migratory fliers, and the city’s buildings and glass winnows an awful toll.
At one point, I saw some motion out of the corner of my eye. Bins up: a Hermit Thrush next to a tree. Behind the thrush in my binocular view was a Woodcock!
Scanning under this one tree, I saw four more. Under a nearby bush, one more. Half-a-dozen nestled together in close proximity. And not a one flushed!
More tomorrow? Hellya!
Backyard and Beyond 
They look like cuttle fish nestled in.
Rebecca McMackin
Director of Horticulture
Brooklyn Bridge Park
Having just been perusing the new Octopus, Squid % Cuttlefish book from Univ of Chicago Press, I see what you mean and am jealous I didn’t see this comparison, too.