Although not currently threatened with extinction, the Woodcock is a bird that must be cared for. With rampant urbanization and massive deforestation causing its habitat to disappear and increasingly present climate change, it has only a short lifespan.
Rustic Scolopaxbetter known as the Woodcock, is a small, stocky bird of the Scolopacidae family. The latter are wading and migratory animals, characterized by long legs (but not always) and especially by a long, thin beak.
How to recognize the woodcock?
The Woodcock is a queen of camouflage. Its plumage, perfectly adapted to its environment, allows it to go almost unnoticed, making it a popular prey for hunters.
Males, females and juveniles show few characteristic differences. The Woodcock, about the size of a pigeon, has brown plumage speckled with black, grey, rust, white (on the chin and throat) and various shades of brown. It has a plump body (35 cm high and weighs 250 to 450 g) on short pinkish legs. It has a short tail.
Its most distinctive feature is its beak, which is the same colour as its legs and is very thin and very long (7 to 9 cm). It allows it to search for food. The black line drawn on each side of its head and crossing its eyes also characterises it.
- Average length: 34 cm
- Average weight: 300 g
- Wingspan: 60 cm
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How does the woodcock behave?
The Woodcock is a generally solitary bird that only gathers with its conspecifics during the breeding, migration or wintering periods.
From March to July, when the females are ready to breed, male woodcocks wait until dusk to begin their courtship display and fly in a swooping motion (i.e. emitting a characteristic song), in search of an available female. Polygynous, the male woodcock abandons its female as soon as mating is over to go in search of another sweetheart. The female, for her part, establishes her nest in the ground, well hidden in dense bushes, piles of dead leaves and tall grass. She generally incubates four eggs per year, in a single brood, for three weeks.
Where does the woodcock live?
A wader, the Woodcock is a shorebird. As its name suggests, it lives in the woods, with a preference for deciduous, coniferous or mixed forests. The most important thing for it is that the ground is cool and moist so that it can find its food, which mainly consists of earthworms, larvae, insects, mollusks and, from time to time, seeds and plants. At nightfall, the Woodcock leaves the forest to look for food in the plains, then returns there at daybreak, a behavior called “passing”.
Present throughout the northern hemisphere, the Woodcock appreciates temperate and boreal regions. This is why most of them partially migrate during the winter seasons to find climates more suited to their needs.
