Photo by Patty Browne/USFWS • A Wilson’s snipe seeks out concealing cover in a wet field.

Lynda Carter of Jonesborough sent me an email asking for help making sense of a pre-dawn close encounter of the feathered variety.

“My sister and I were walking this morning before daylight and had a startling experience,” Lynda wrote. “We had started down a gravel drive when a bird flushed right at our feet. The bird flew away at about a 45 degree angle and made quite a bit of sound.”

Lynda wrote that she and her sister agreed the sound was wing noise rather than a call, which ruled out the screech owl they sometimes see on the drive. It would also be unusual for a screech owl to roost on the ground.

Lynda described the noise as louder than a dove taking off.

“I have never noticed doves on the ground at night,” she added before asking me for my best guess regarding the bird’s identity.

I cannot conclusively identify the bird, but I did offer some possibilities in a response to Lynda’s email.

If the location is near woods, I would go out on a limb and make three guesses: Wilson’s snipe, American woodcock or ruffed grouse.

The first two birds are each active both night and day, but the ruffed grouse is usually not active at night. Roosting on a gravel road is also not its style. I included it because a grouse’s wings make quite a lot of noise when they take off.

Wilson’s snipe and American woodcock are atypical shorebirds with long legs and bills. Both are also often active around dusk and dawn. Their plumage lets them blend remarkably well with their surroundings, whether those be wetlands, fields or woodland floors.

Wilson’s snipe looks stocky, thanks in part to the extra-large pectoral (breast) muscles that make up nearly a quarter of the bird’s weight, a feat unmatched by any other shorebird, according to the All About Birds website. Using these massive flight muscles, a snipe can reach speeds estimated at 60 miles an hour.

Photo by Bryan Stevens * A Wilson’s snipe ventures from cover to forage on a muddy bank.

According to All About Birds, the American woodcock nests in young, shrubby, deciduous forests, old fields and mixed forest-agricultural-urban areas across the eastern United States and southern Canada.

In late winter and early spring, these dumpy shorebirds are famous for their nuptial displays conducted in forest openings and old fields. They take flight, and their feathers produce an eerie sound as they make their descent back to the ground.

If the bird flushed from hiding by Lynda and her sister had been vocal, I would have guessed killdeer. But Lynda didn’t hear anything but the apparent noise from the wings, which in my mind rules out the killdeer and its loud vocalizations.

I cautioned Lynda that my guesses were not definitive. Alas, her encounter may remain a mystery, but the unexpected interaction with the unknown bird does sound like it made for a dramatic experience.

To ask a question, make a comment or share a sighting, email me at ahoodedwarbler@aol.com.