American Woodcock

Physical Features

The American Woodcock is a small plump shorebird that is commonly referred to as a 'Timber doodle.” Their plumage is a cinnamon pattern mix of different shades of browns, grays, and black, with a lighter brown underneath. Adults have short pinkish legs and a very long straight bill that is 2.5 to 2.75 inches long, with an articulated tip. The Woodcock uses its long bill to probe in the soil for food, sourcing mainly for invertebrates and earthworms. A unique bone-and-muscle arrangement lets the bird open and close the tip of its upper bill, or mandible, while it is sunk in the ground. The underside of the upper mandible and their long tongue are rough-surfaces that assist in grasping slippery prey. They have large eyes positioned high and on the sides of their heads, which gives them almost 360° vision in the horizontal plane and 180° in the vertical plane, which is possibly the largest visual field of any bird. Females are considerably larger than males and adults are 10 to 12 inches long and weigh 5 to 8 ounces.

Habitat

American Woodcock live in wet thickets, moist woods, and brushy swamps. Ideal habitats include young forest and abandoned farmland mixed with forest. In the late summer, some Woodcock roost on the ground at night in large openings among sparse, patchy vegetation. Woodcock are found in areas east of the 98th Meridian and they have been sighted as far north as York Factory, Manitoba, east to Labrador and Newfoundland. During the winter, they migrate as far south as the Gulf Coast States.

Diet

The American Woodcock feeds at night or in the evenings and forages by probing it's long bill into soft, moist soil in thickets where they are well-hidden and out of sight. The flexible tip of the American Woodcock's bill is specialized for catching earthworms. It is able to feel for worms as it probes in the ground. A woodcock also uses a special technique of rocking its body back and forth without moving its head as it slowly walks around, stepping heavily with its front foot. This action causes worms to move around in the soil, increasing their detectability. Woodcocks mainly eat invertebrates, favorably earthworms and insects as well as some plant materials such as seeds. Other items found in their diet include insect larvae, snails, centipedes, millipedes, spiders, snipe flies, beetles, and ants. They are crepuscular, being most active at dawn and dusk.

Meat

The American Woodcock is a popular game bird, with about 540,000 bagged annually by some 133,000 hunters in the U.S. Woodcocks have intensely flavored lean, dark meat. It is a juicy bird and a gourmet's delight because of its rich, tangy flavor gained through a diet that includes aromatic herbs and berries. It is prized in Europe, Asia and North America for its delectable flesh.

Behavior

Woodcock spend most of their time on the ground in brushy, young-forest habitats, where the birds' brown, black, and gray plumage provides excellent camouflage. The male American Woodcock performs an elaborate display to attract females. He gives repeated 'peents' on the ground and after a short time he flies upward in a wide spiral and his wings start to twitter. Once he reaches a height of 70-100 m (230-328 ft) the twittering becomes intermittent, he starts chirping as he descends. He descends in a zigzag, diving fashion, chirping continuously. As he reaches the ground he lands silently, near a female. Then he starts peenting again. Females are attracted to the males' displays and will fly in and land on the ground near a singing male. The male courts the female by walking stiff-legged while holding his wings stretched vertically, and by bobbing and bowing and eventually mating with the female. The hen makes a shallow, rudimentary nest on the ground in the leaf and twig litter, in brushy or young-forest cover usually within 150 yards of a singing ground. They lay one to four eggs and incubation takes 20 to 22 days. Males provide no parental care and they do not assist in selecting a nest site, incubating eggs, or rearing young. The male may however continue to display long after most females have laid eggs. Some males display at several, widely separated singing grounds and will mate with several females. A female may visit four or more singing grounds before nesting, and she may keep visiting even when she is caring for her young. Unlike many birds that leave their nests at hatching, newly hatched woodcocks cannot feed themselves. They are dependent on the mother for food for the first week but they already start to probe in dirt after three or four days of hatching. They develop quickly and can make short flights after two weeks, and are independent after about five weeks. The young are well camouflaged from birth and when threatened, the chicks usually take cover and remain motionless, attempting to escape detection by relying on their cryptic coloration.

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