A female will squeal and often feign a broken wing to lure intruders away from her young. Other calls express alarm or provide communication between hens and offspring. Migrating woodcock have turned up in Pennsylvania as early as February 25, but most don't arrive until the last two weeks in March. Migration is complete by mid-April. While on the ground, the males peent to attract females.
Females seek out males on the singing grounds.
Males may mate with several females. In Pennsylvania, most breeding takes place from early March to mid-May. Favored nesting habitat includes damp woods near water, hillsides above moist bottomlands, old fields with low ground cover, briar patches, the edges of shrub thickets and young conifer stands. The average cover height is 12 feet. A typical timberdoodle nest is a slight depression on the ground in dead leaves.