Timberdoodle / Woodcock

Woodcock and snipe are so very similar that in flight they are virtually indistinguishable.
The stripes on a woodcocks head are from left to right and a snipe is from front to back.

Now a timberdoodle....is that anything like a Labrador but with a timber wolf and a poodle instead of a Labrador?! ;p
 
The flight of woodcock and snipe is about as different as any two birds can be that have a similar shape and size. Snipe call out when they flush, Often described as "scaipe" the few woodcock I've seen are silent or may twitter softly. Woodcock flutter like a bat, snipe go like hell and change direction erratically. They prefer very different habitats. I hunt snipe every year, but we have no woodcock season in Saskatchewan. I saw my very first Saskatchewan woodcock of my lifetime last September in Eastern Sask. They are far more common east of central MB. Woodcock are associated with alder thickets, snipe with open wet meadows and slough edges.
 
I hear at least two of them in the forest i walk my dog in. I never see them though. Also, I live in Ontario so this isn't really relevant information to the OP.
 
I have both species on my land. At this time of year Snipe are commonly seen and heard all day long, usually in flight but also on the ground or perching on a fencepost, while Woodcock are secretive and are heard much more often than seen, and then usually in early morning or late evening. These birds are superficially similar, but as Longwalker said, they are completely distinctive from one another in flight. Even on the ground, the proportions of legs, bill and head are quite different.

If you saw four together at one time, especially in a slough, I'd bet good money that they were Snipe.
 
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