Timberdoodle
Many years ago, I stumbled across this video: The American Woodech. If that link ever dies, it's basically a funny-looking bird overlayed with somebody making disgusted "blech!" sounds while Rossini's Ranz des Vaches plays in the background.
Of course I sent it to everyone I knew. But then I got to wondering Okay, but what is that bird, really?
Well it turns out the funny-looking bird is an American woodcock, which also does a very funny-looking walk and makes an equally funny-sounding "ᴘᴇᴇɴᴛ" noise. (No, really, that's actually what it's called: peenting.)
And then I proceeded to completely forget about that bird's existence, until the other day: It is spring, and the peepers have started singing in the woods behind my house in the evenings. And every so often, their song is punctuated by a singular, eerily familiar...
"ᴘᴇᴇɴᴛ."
What's that sound?
Could it be...?!
"ᴘᴇᴇɴᴛ."
Yes, it appears that one of these majestic creatures has decided to establish his "singing grounds" in the woods behind my house. (If you can really call that singing, which I'm not sure I can in good conscience.) I wish him all the best, really.
So that's how a silly YouTube video helped me identify some local wildlife. What a world.