Why can't I get an American Woodcock???

Seems all my friends are seeing woodcocks this year, but I can't find one for love nor money. Well, I haven't tried money. Maybe that's the problem. A friend today had one that crashed into her friend's window and was stunned. Kathy and I rushed over to see it, but alas, it recovered and flew away.

I know the bird's habitat and it's behavior, but that knowledge is doing me no good this winter. I've trounced through forest bottomlands, stared at blankets of dead leaves covering the forest floor, and just can't scare up a woodcock. And I get home to find that readers of my column have seen and photographed a woodcock in their backyards.

In the birding world, we call this a jinx bird. For me, it's a classic jinx bird.