Searching for the American Woodcock in Virginia - Eastern Shore

This may not be the immediate advice he is looking for, but they are easiest to find in early spring especially early April at dusk. They tend to like big brushy fields or edges of those types of areas.

They give a distinct "peent" call (he can Google it to familiarize himself to memorize it). They fly around displaying with their wings twittering, then they often land in the same spot.

If he can make himself unobtrusive and listen for where the "peent" is coming from, one strategy is to wait until the woodcock takes off, and then slowly move closer to where it took off from while it flies. If he stays still, quiet, and low when it returns, woodcocks may tolerate someone fairly close up.

I'm not sure if there is a good strategy for finding woodcock doing the worm-finding dance of viral fame, maybe other birders have advice. They tend to stay in the brush a lot other times of year and many sightings outside of spring is just someone running across one.

I grabbed some data from ebird, here is all the local locations (Based on the park you mentioned) where they have been seen this month. Id agree with runawayoldgirls comment. Id also add the hand full of times I have seen them was in April-May, along gravel/dirt roads alongside grassy areas, or in culverts.

Thanks so much @boshkins84 and @runawayoldgirl, really appreciate the advice! Looks like we’ll have to plan a spring trip!