Two more nicknames for woodcocks: hookumpake (American Midland) in MW3 and beccaccia (Italian) in OED2. I think they refer to different species. Also hootamaganzy for hooded merganser in MW3.
Good grief, mollusque--what a glaring omission! And it's one of my favorite birds! Added to the U.S. list. Thanks for pointing that out. (I do like "timberdoodle," though.)
Yep, they're all bona fide. Most of them come directly from old ornithology publications. :-) Amazing, no?
Note, though, that it's not "jerk-or-perk bird" but "jerk-or perk-bird." I couldn't tell you why. But if you're familiar with any of the calls or songs of some of these birds, the goofy nicknames start to make a little more sense.
r-t: You swear these are all boney-fidey? There are so many, it makes my head spin. And the porn star nickname hypothesis does have a certain ring of plausibility....