Happy Thursday in New York City, where the sun was (briefly) out, and so were the dancing American Woodcocks.
The American Woodcock — also known by its much sillier nicknames, timberdoodle, mudbat and bogsucker — is a plump little hackey-sack of a bird with comically large eyes and beak, that migrates through New York just as winter turns to spring. They’re as reliable a marker of springtime as cherry blossom trees or open-door coffee shops.
Every year, the arrival of the timberdoodle draws crowds of birdwatchers with their sketchbooks and telephoto camera lenses to Bryant Park, where the birds have been known to briefly come down from the skies to scavenge for worms and bugs. This week was no different, as hundreds of people gathered around the park’s wrought-iron fences to catch a glimpse of the quirky bird in person.
Aside from its plump little body and many memorable names, the bogsucker is known for a unique foraging tactic, which involves bopping and rocking its body back and forth like your favorite contestant on Dancing with the Stars. They do this to drive worms out of the soil, although some experts suggest it may be a mating ritual or predator deterrent.
Videos of the birds in Bryant Park are going viral on social media. “It’s hysterical,” New Yorker Katherine Paglione told the New York Times. “It’s really cute. TikTok, every third video is the dance.”
Personally, I don’t know what all the fuss is about. I do my little jigs in Bryant Park every week and no one videotapes me.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced a new online child care map and resource center designed to help families find, understand and choose childcare.
Thirty-six third graders from Public School 56 Lewis H. Latimer in Clinton Hill traveled to Westchester County to release more than 30 trout they had raised in their classroom.
Roadside dining resumed across the city yesterday, but only 500 roadside setups have been approved so far this year, a fraction of the 8,000 restaurants approved during the program’s height.
The federal murder trial of Luigi Mangione was pushed back again, with jury selection moved from Sept. 8 to Oct. 5 and opening arguments moved from Oct. 13 to Oct. 26.
New York Transit Museum staff members voted unanimously to unionize through District Council 37 AFSCME.
Brooklyn Chamber Orchestra celebrates the sound of the borough with “Born and Buried in Brooklyn,” which features works by Brooklyn legends.
Our World In Photos
Photo: Ricardo Mazalan/AP
FALKLAND ISLANDS — No plans ever to swim through the Strait of Hormuz … An elephant seal lays on the shore at Kelp Point on the Falkland Islands, also known as Islas Malvinas, Tuesday, March 17, 2026.
For more pictures like this, see Our World in Photos.
11-year-old Bay Ridge golfer to compete in Augusta during America’s most prestigious tournament, the Masters
Chen will compete at the annual Drive, Chip and Putt National Finals in Augusta, GA, on April 5. Photo: David Chen
Bay Ridge resident Ava Chen, 11, is a rising golf star and she’ll be showing off her skills as she competes in the annual Drive, Chip and Putt National Finals at the 2026 Masters Tournament in Augusta, GA, on April 5.
Chen got her start through a free City Parks Foundation (CPF) program in Brooklyn. The sixth grader trains at the CPF’s Junior Golf Center at Dyker Beach Golf Course.
She will be just one of 10 golfers in the girls’ 10-11 category and will represent the northwest region. She made the tournament after her third attempt.
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The Mini
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Cartoon Sketchbook
By Adam Zyglis
For the Road
Don’t hate the bot, hate the game: New research from NYU Tandon contends that headline-grabbing victories by AI game players in chess and Go obscure a fundamental brittleness: even minor alterations to rules or visuals can cause top-performing AI models to collapse. Large language models don’t fare much better, the authors found, lacking the interactive experience that gameplay demands. Learn more.
Happy Birthday to “Friday Night Lights” star Jesse Plemons!
On This Day in 1952, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “More than 1,000 forsythia plants were being planted all over the borough today, in time to blossom with the older mass of Brooklyn’s golden-belled flowers, the borough’s official harbinger of Spring.”
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