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Eurasian Woodcock

Eurasian Woodcock

Scolopax rusticola

Identify the Eurasian Woodcock by sound or photo and log your sightings with Birdpass.

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The Eurasian Woodcock is a secretive, forest-dwelling wader of temperate and subarctic Eurasia. Its russet-and-buff camouflage blends perfectly with leaf litter, and its large eyes set high and far back give it almost all-round vision as it probes soft soil with its long bill. Active at dusk and night, males perform “roding” display flights in spring. Northern birds migrate, while many in western Europe are resident.

Did you know?

  • Its eyes give it almost 360-degree vision.
  • Its bill tip is flexible and packed with nerve endings for detecting worms.

Voice

Song

About the species

Identification

A fairly large, stocky, pigeon-like snipe with a long, straight bill and mottled brown camouflage. In flight its rounded wings and rufous rump show; its large eyes sit high and far back. It differs from Jack Snipe and Common Snipe in being much larger, living in forests, having rounded wings and a crown barred crosswise rather than striped lengthwise.

Family

Scolopacidae

Size

Large (crow)

Colours

brown, black, grey, orange

About the habitat

Damp deciduous and mixed forest with soft, rich soil, leaf litter and undergrowth, with rides, clearings and edges; at night it may feed in nearby wet meadows and fields.

Diet

Mainly earthworms, as well as beetle and fly larvae, other soil invertebrates and some seeds, found by probing damp ground and leaf litter with its sensitive bill tip.

Behaviour

Mostly crepuscular and nocturnal, it feeds by slow, methodical probing and rests motionless in dense cover by day, relying on camouflage. In spring males make low, looping “roding” flights over the treetops at dusk and dawn, giving grunts and sharp squeaks. When flushed it flies off fast on rounded wings with a whirr and soon drops back into cover. It migrates singly at night.

Sources

Photo: Ronald Slabke, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Woodcock earthworm.jpg

Sound: Max Karlsson, XC1100456, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://xeno-canto.org/1100456

Text: Wikipedia (English) + FinBIF species descriptions, CC BY-SA 4.0; FinBIF: CC BY 4.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasian_woodcock

See also