The most common alternate spelling is shite-poke and
refers to its habit of evacuating its cloaca upon being
roused to flight.

I should also mention that, like most of the vernacular
names I posted earlier. If you ask what a shypoke is, you'll
get answers that vary by region.

Roger Olstad wrote:
>
> My Mother (many years dead now at an age of over 90) also referred to the
> Shypoke as a Slough Crane, but her preference was Shypoke....however we may
> have the spelling wrong, as I think it comes from a German word or
> expression, at least according to some German-American friends who also
> called them that.
>
> Roger Olstad
> Lake Forest Park
>

--
Mike Patterson
Astoria, OR
celata at pacifier.com

And now for something completely different... Salamanders
http://www.surfbirds.com/blogs/mbalame/archives/002899.html