Fueled by nervous anticipation, we stepped into the cover, two hunters on one side of the small creek, one along the far bank.

With a tail wag showing even greater excitement, Jerry’s golden retriever Gracie pounded into the stream-lining thickets.

Would they be here this year, these less-than-a-pound displaced shorebirds with the long bill and upside-down brain? Soon whitewash – the birds’ dropping — was spotted on the fertile ground, a sign that the birds had at least been here, though not a guarantee they were still around.

Then stimulated by a bird’s scent, Gracie’s tail kicked into overdrive. She nosed into a thick clump of goldenrod, and with whistling wings our season’s first American woodcock corkscrewed into flight.

The woodcock is both odd and somewhat mysterious. Its evolutionary journey has taken it from the shore to the uplands, where it finds its habitat requirements best met by young forests and reverting farmlands, particularly those found in areas of moist, productive soils.

It features a plump body, short legs, and a relatively large head with big, innocent eyes. Its oversized bill probes soft soils for earthworms, the woodcock’s primary food source.

Also called timberdoodle and bogsucker, the woodcock is a migratory species, one that does its major movements at night. If you’re not looking for woodcock, chances are you’re not going to find them. It’s not uncommon for farmers — who have little reason for being in an overgrown creek bottom on their “back 40” — to be unaware of the presence of woodcock.

Like ducks, there are native birds and flight birds. Here in western Pennsylvania, proper habitat might support a fair number of woodcock.

The progression of fall sends the local birds south, though the covers may soon be replaced by flight birds that settle into the same spots on their migratory journey. For this reason, woodcock hunting can be a feast or famine affair.

Hit things wrong and the covers can be empty. Lucky days, though, follow nights when the covers were descended upon by scores of birds from the north that rode the leading edge of a major weather system.

As a game species, woodcock aren’t particularly popular in these parts, where much hunter attention is directed toward deer and turkeys.

The places they live are thick, thorny, and pretty much unpleasant. They are most often encountered by grouse hunters, as the two species use similar kinds of spots. It’s common, though not universal, for grouse hunters to pursue woodcock, and vice versa.

Woodcock are important, however, well beyond the enjoyment of those that hunt them during early fall days. For several decades, the species has been experiencing a steady decline, and as with most such things, the problem is a loss of habitat. Hunters lament the loss of hunting spots at the hand of development. But the big culprit isn’t the new housing project; it’s the fact that our forests have gotten old.

The habitat needs provided by early successional forestland isn’t limited to woodcock. It’s also vital to such game species as grouse and non-game birds like golden-winged warblers and whip-poor-wills, both of which have been on the decline.

Fact is, most all game and non-game species benefit from the presence of young forestland as part of the overall landscape.

On a bright note, the American Woodcock Conservation Plan, formulated in 2008, outlines a strategy for increasing the amount of woodcock habitat during the coming years. This work, while directed toward woodcock, will benefit a wide range of birds and animals.

Pennsylvania has been an active player in this effort. A number of federal government programs such as Wildlife Habitat Improvement Program (WHIP), Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) and Conservation Reserve and Enhancement Program (CREP) are available to assist private landowners interested in dedicating property to such use.

For more information on the American woodcock and its conservation visit www.timberdoodle.org.