The American Woodcock (Scolopax minor), a.k.a. Timberdoodle, is a migratory game bird in the shorebird family Scolopacidae.
Its appearance is distinctive — a plump body, short legs, a large, rounded head, and a straight bill that’s 2.5 to 2.8 inches long.
Adults stand 10 to 12 inches tall and weigh five to eight ounces, with a wingspan of 16.5 to 18.9 inches. Females are considerably larger than males.
Their plumage is a mix of different shades of browns, grays, and black, making them very camouflaged on the ground. Their chest and sides vary from yellowish-white to tan. Their dark eyes, located high on their heads, provide them with a large visual field, to detect predators from overhead.
The range of the woodcock includes the eastern half of the Lower 48 states from Minnesota south to Texas, east along the Gulf Coast to Florida, north up the Atlantic Coast to Maine, and west through the Great Lakes states. They also breed in southern Canada, from the Maritime provinces west to Manitoba.
Birds that nest in Kentucky typically migrate southward in late fall, but during warm winters they may not go far.
In Kentucky, courtship displays begin in February and peak in mid-March.
According to The Kentucky Breeding Bird Atlas, “clutches have been observed as early as March 17, but clutch completion probably peaks during the last week or so of March (and) continues into mid-April.”
Population status in Kentucky
In Kentucky, the American Woodcock is presumed to be present everywhere there is suitable habitat.
“It is really hard to estimate populations with the traditional methods used for most game birds. (Woodcock) are difficult to find and count because of their coloration, small size, and preference for areas with dense vegetation,” said Wes Little, bluegrass regional coordinator for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources (KDFWR). “Their numbers have been stable for the last 25 years or so, although there was a decline in the 80’s and 90’s that they have not recovered from.”
Kentucky’s State Wildlife Action Plan lists this game bird as a species of greatest conservation need.
Woodcock are primarily hunted in combination with quail or ruffed grouse.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service uses a singing ground census, which monitors singing males heard on specific routes, and data provided by hunters via the Harvest Information Program (HIP) to monitor populations.
Habitat
The American Woodcock’s preferred habitat is wet thickets, moist woods, and brushy swamps. They favor areas where early successional vegetation is intermixed with openings and forest.
Woodcocks typically spend the day in the forest, and the night in the open in pastures, abandoned farm fields, and the edges of swamps.
Feeding behavior
The woodcock feeds mostly by probing its bill into soft soil. The tip of the bill is sensitive and flexible, allowing the bird to detect and then grab creatures in the soil.
A distinctive rocking motion, that produces vibrations, is likely an attempt to disturb earthworms into moving.
Some biologists believe the woodcock can hear sounds of creatures moving underground.
Their diet is mostly earthworms and insects. Earthworms are a major prey most of the year, but insects also are an important food source, especially insect larvae that burrow in soil.
Also eaten are millipedes, spiders, snails, and other invertebrates, and some plant material, including seeds of grasses, sedges, smartweeds.
Courtship and nesting
Males display at night in the spring and summer to attract females.
Often several males are close together in a brushy field.
Males utter a nasal beeping call on ground, then perform a high, twisting flight display. In this “sky dance,” musical twittering sounds are made by modified wing feathers, and chirping calls made vocally.
Females visits the area, and mate with one of the males. Males do not take part in caring for eggs or young.
Nest are on the ground, usually in open woods or overgrown field, typically in an area where there are many dead leaves. The nest is built by the female, a scrape lined with dead leaves, other debris.
She lays about four pinkish, buff colored eggs, blotched with brown and gray. Incubation by the female lasts for 20 to 22 days.
The downy-covered young leave nest a few hours after hatching. The female tends her young and feeds them. After a few days, young may begin probing in soil, learning to search for food.
The young can make short flights at age two weeks, fly fairly well at three weeks, and are independent at about five weeks.
The American Woodcock is a unique species of migratory bird that you don’t have to hunt to appreciate
