American Woodcock (Scolopax minor)
American Woodcock (Scolopax minor)
Photo credit: Pamela Demnon
Length: 11 in.
Habitat: Moist woodland and thickets near open fields.
Range: Eastern North America from southern Canada to the Gulf states. Winters chiefly in the South.
Its voice is a loud, buzzy beep similar to the call of a nighthawk and often repeated about every 2 seconds.
The Woodcock is seldom seen, for its protective coloring renders it virtually invisible. When flushed from underfoot, it zigzags off through the brush with a whistling of wings.
People fortunate enough to live near woodcock breeding grounds may see these birds perform their courtship fight in early spring each year. In spectacular aerial displays the male spirals up to a considerable height, circles, then plummets down to earth, calling as he descends.
Woodcocks subsist chiefly on earthworms, which they extract with their long bills; the tip of the upper mandible is flexible so that they can grasp a worm while probing in mud without opening the bill. Insect larvae are also eaten, and occasionally vegetable matter is consumed.
Conservation Status: The U.S. Shorebird Conservation Plan (USSCP) lists woodcock as a Species
of High Concern
and as a species
known or thought to be declining (Brown et al. 2004). Woodcock are listed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as a Game Bird Below Desired Condition (USFWS 2004).
They are listed on the Audubon Watchlist "yellow list" of those species
that are in slow decline and of national conservation concern (National Audubon Society 2004).
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