American Woodcock
American woodcock photo by Mike Murphy.
Scientific name: Scolopax minor
New York Status: Not Listed
Federal Status: Not Listed
Description
The American woodcock is one of New York's most unusual upland birds. Approximately the size of a mourning dove, an adult woodcock weighs 8-12 ounces, is 10-12 inches in length (including bill), and has a wingspan of 17-19 inches. It has a bill that looks too long for its body, and ears that are placed forward on the face, between the eyes and the bill. To help guard against predation from above, its eyes are set high on the back of the head. Its large eyes have nearly 360-degree vision - a distinct advantage when foraging in the soil. The woodcock's long bill has a flexible tip specially adapted for probing into moist soil in search of earthworms. It can eat its weight in worms each day. They also eat other invertebrates, and have been known to eat ants from ant hills during times of drought.
American woodcock chicks hatching.
Photo by Mike Schiavone.
The woodcock's mottled brown to black body enables this bird to blend in with the forest floor. As such, they are difficult to spot and will often startle you if you walk by them. When flushed from the ground, these birds flutter up through the thick canopy, level off over the top, and then fly away. Wind moving through their wings makes a whistling sound as they go. Although they sometimes fly considerable distances, they usually only fly short distances of 10 to 20 yards at flight speeds of up to 30 mph. Their odd appearance and behavior has inspired many local names like timberdoodle, bog sucker, mud bat, mud snipe, and Labrador twister.
Life History
Each spring, male woodcock perform an unusual courtship ritual in an attempt to attract mates. At dusk, a male will sit on the ground in an opening or small field and repeatedly utter a low, nasal, almost insect-like 'peent.' He then takes off low and spirals upward on whistling wings to heights of 100-200 feet before spiraling back down and landing near where he took off. He makes a chirping sound during this downward spiral. Males repeat this act again and again until well after dark.
Nesting occurs from mid-March into June. Females lay their eggs-one per day-in shallow depressions on the ground among dead leaves. Most nests have four eggs, and incubation takes approximately 21 days. The chicks are precocial (highly developed), meaning they can move around and follow the hen soon after hatching. Chicks grow very rapidly on a diet of earthworms and insects. By the time they are four weeks old, it is difficult to distinguish the chicks from adults. Male woodcock are not involved in nesting or brood rearing.
Distribution and Habitat
American woodcock range map from Birds of the World,
maintained by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
Migratory birds, woodcock spend each spring and fall traveling between their breeding grounds in northern North America and their wintering grounds in the southern United States. They fly only at night, typically migrating at low altitudes of 50-100 feet. They may fly alone or in loose flocks called flights. If you are walking near moist thickets during these migration times, you might see signs of the woodcock: silver-dollar-shaped white splashes on the ground-the droppings or 'chalk' of these birds. Woodcock are most active at dawn and dusk, usually searching for a meal.
The woodcock requires a diverse mix of habitats to thrive, including riparian shrublands and forests (land along riverbanks), as well as upland shrublands, early successional forests and forest thickets. Within these areas, second growth hardwoods provide important nesting habitat, while areas with thick cover and moist fertile soil with abundant worms are used as feeding grounds. In addition, the woodcock uses new clear-cuts, large fields or pastures for night roosting, and males need small openings in the forest to sing over.
Status
Woodcock populations have been declining in the eastern United States for several decades. Annual spring surveys of their breeding grounds show that woodcock numbers in the eastern flyway and in New York have been falling by about 2 percent since the 1960s-a loss of over 55 percent in the last 40 years. As a result, national and international bird conservation organizations consider the American woodcock a species of continental concern, and protecting the woodcock is a high priority in its habitat ranges.
Management and Research Needs
American woodcock Painting by Jean Gawalt.
The woodcock's decline is attributed to loss of upland and wetland habitat due to development, succession, and forest maturation. In addition, the reduction in forestry practices, especially in riparian areas which are critical for breeding and migrating woodcock, also contributes to the loss in woodcock numbers. Woodcock depend on trees and shrubs that require full sunlight and open canopies. This only comes from disturbance to forests, which has been dramatically reduced by fire suppression and the reluctance to fell trees.
This reluctance is based on the misconception that cutting trees is bad for birds and wildlife. While cutting trees can negatively impact some wildlife species, proper forest management actually increases the abundance and diversity of some birds and forest wildlife in an area. Ironically, the bird and wildlife species of mature forests, often touted as threatened, are actually doing well overall; it is the early successional species that need more help and habitat.
DEC's Young Forest Initiative, which started in 2015, aims to dramatically increase early successional and young forest habitats for a variety of species, including American Woodcock, on Wildlife Management Areas. Fortunately, woodcock populations, as well as other early-successional-forest species, can often be readily restored through proper harvest management of forested lands. Cutting small 5-10 acre patches or strips through the forest in rotation creates a mosaic of different age forests with diverse structures. These areas provide everything the woodcock needs to survive and prosper-good cover, abundant food, and openings for singing males.
