A spring twilight spectacular:An excursion to see and hear the American Woodcock's courtship display strikes gold, near a place that woodcocks helped save fromdevelopment

摘要

On a spring evening in 1966, biologist Al Geis took Columbia, Maryland's founder, Jim Rouse, to a clearing in the woods. They hunkered down. As the embers of daylight faded, they witnessed the acrobatic, shuffling, twittering showcase of the AmericanWoodcock's courtship display. Rouse, the innovative designer of this new suburban community between Baltimore and Washington, was so inspired that he preserved an extra 500 acres of open space in Columbia'sfootprint. That tract is now permanently protected in what became the Middle Patuxent Environmental Area.