The woodcock (boron sandpiper, birch sandpiper, red sandpiper) is very common in our country, although rarely has anyone seen this beautiful bird. It is really difficult to see her, as she is very secretive and cautious.
The forest sandpiper is a small bird, the size of an ordinary pigeon. Its body length is from 30 to 40 cm, weight is 200-500 g. The woodcock has a very beautiful plumage. Words can not describe it, it is better to look at the photo:
The first thing that catches your eye is the big beak. In adults, the length of the beak can be up to 10 cm. They need such an unusually long beak to extract food from the ground. The woodcock feeds on worms, caterpillars, centipedes, beetles, and their larvae.
Woodcocks are migratory birds, they fly south for the winter, and by spring they reappear in our area. The forest sandpiper lives practically all over Russia, it does not settle only further than 66 0 north latitude, you will not meet them in Kamchatka either.
The arrival of the woodcock is very difficult to notice - they migrate one by one or in a small flock. They avoid open places, fly over the forest, and besides, they do not move during the day - only at night. This bird arrives in our region at the end of March (in the southern regions of the country) - mid-May (in the northern part of Russia). If the weather is warm enough, then the woodcock can migrate to us in late February - mid-March. In general, the arrival of the sandpiper coincides with the melting of snow. When thawed patches appeared in the forest, it means that there is a high probability that the woodcock has already arrived.
The forest sandpiper rarely settles in coniferous forests, preferring old mixed or deciduous forests with small open spaces - meadows, clearings, clearings, copses. Secretive and cautious, it always nests in such supports and windbreaks, where it is very difficult for a person to get. One of the main "criteria" that guides the woodcock when choosing a settlement site is soil moisture. If the humus in the forest is dry, then the pine sandpiper is unlikely to settle here.
Woodcock pull.
Immediately after arrival, woodcocks begin to draw. Males fly over their forest area in search of a female - they pull. The song of males during thrust sounds monotonous and very quiet. If translated into our Russian language, you get "kvog-kvog-tsi".
Females usually do not fly. They sit on the ground, but as soon as they hear an approaching male, they give him a sign - either respond to his song, or take off so that the woodcock notices it. At this time, males are very aggressive and fights often occur between them in the air. Often, woodcocks attack not only their fellows, but also other birds that inadvertently found themselves nearby.
In early spring, the draft of woodcocks is almost imperceptible, since a small number of individuals participate in it. As it gets warmer, it becomes more numerous - all late individuals are pulled up.
The duration of the thrust of forest waders is quite long. Woodcocks can pull not only all spring, but even in summer. Hunters observed draft in late July - early August. Such stretching of the thrust is most likely due to the fact that the females lost their first clutch of eggs during incubation. This may be the destruction of the nest by a predator and other reasons why the females could not breed. For this reason, females re-lay.
The draft of the woodcock takes place only at certain times of the day. Evening thrust begins at dusk, at sunset, and lasts two to three hours. In the morning, the forest sandpiper pulls an hour and a half before sunrise. It should be noted that morning cravings are weaker and less numerous than evening cravings.
Nesting. Conclusion of chicks.
After fertilization, the female builds a nest. She chooses strong nesting places - somewhere in bushes, fallen trees, under fallen branches and trees, and always near a reservoir - forest streams, rivers, swamps. The nest is built on the ground. It is a small hole lined with twigs and grass. The clutch usually consists of four eggs.
The female woodcock sits firmly on the masonry. Even in case of danger, she does not leave the nest until the last. She tries to lead the predator who found the clutch away from the nest, pretending to be wounded.
If the period of incubation of eggs has passed safely, then after 20-25 days chicks are born. The mother takes care of them for the first two weeks. Then they try to find their own food on their own. On the twentieth day, the woodcock chick's attempts to fly are finally successful! During this period, they are more independent, but continue to stay with their mother. After some time, after sunset, the brood flies daily to dirt roads and fields, where they get their food in puddles and mud. After taking off “to the mud”, woodcocks leave characteristic marks - crosses from their paws, small depressions in the ground, which the forest sandpiper makes with its beak when it pulls out worms, and white droppings. Here the brood not only gets food for itself, but also bathes in puddles, the chicks frolic and play.
At the age of one month, the chicks become more independent and leave their mother. After that, the adult woodcock begins the most difficult period in their life - molting. During molting, the forest sandpiper loses some of its feathers and cannot take off, therefore it is forced to sit out in deaf impenetrable supports, being afraid of predators.
In August, adult woodcocks fly to forest ponds at dusk. There they gather in small groups, bathe and splash.
In September, before flying south, the forest sandpiper flies out every night to open places - fields, pastures, where it searches for food. Woodcocks fly to the feeding place quietly, imperceptibly.
At the same time, the autumn draft of the woodcock begins. It is not as bright as in spring; fewer males take part in it.
As the cold weather sets in, the forest sandpiper begins to roam south. The departure of woodcock to warmer climes is also difficult to notice, as well as the arrival in spring, for the reason that they fly alone or in small groups. But if frosts suddenly come, then the forest sandpiper gathers in large flocks on the edges, meadows, glades - the so-called vysypka. Woodcock hunting on embankments - one of the most popular autumn hunts.
The woodcock has a lot of enemies in the wild. Martens attack him
Like many other birds, this forest sandpiper migrates to warmer climes in autumn. Departure of woodcocks from Russia begins on the 20th of September, the signal is the duration of light time. The peak of migration occurs in the first ten days of October, and by the end of the month there are very few birds left in the European part. The last woodcocks leave Russia in mid-November.
Where does the woodcock winter
Basically, woodcocks winter outside our country - in Western and Southern Europe, in northern Africa, as well as in Indochina and Southeast Asia. A small part of the population remains in Russia, on the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus, as well as in the Crimea and Central Asia. On the territory of Western Europe, the woodcock winters where the January temperatures exceed two degrees Celsius. The main part of the forest waders migrating from Eastern Europe remains in the British Isles, in Spain, Italy, Greece, the former Yugoslavia, as well as in most of France, which is the legislator of hunting for this wader. It is about the wintering of woodcock in France that will be discussed in this material.
How the woodcock hibernates
In France, by the end of November, most of the woodcocks arrive at their wintering grounds. After arrival, adult birds for some time are forced to get used to the changes that have occurred during their absence, young people are accustomed to new places. It happens that due to economic activity, this area loses its former attractiveness for waders. Most often this occurs in areas of active hunting. Therefore, birds that have flown here either get shot or leave such areas. But the interesting thing is that they have somewhere to fly, because in France from year to year there is an increase in the area of \u200b\u200bforests. The following figures can be cited: since the 18th century, the area of forests in this country has doubled, and after the end of the Second World War it increased by 35%. Today, the forests of France occupy about 14 million hectares, that is, ¼ of the country's territory.
In general, the greatest attraction for woodcocks are mosaic landscapes, that is, those in which forests are combined with clearings, clearings, bushes, meadows and fallows. At the same time, the woodcock loves forests with a mixed composition of species, and not artificial plantings of fast-growing species. Often, woodcocks can be found in damp areas - meadows, swamps, wet outskirts of ponds, banks of streams and ditches. During the daytime, waders often remain on the edges of forest uprootings, in granite blocks, which accumulate solar heat, which is important in winter. Some woodcocks are able to stay for a short time in conditions of obviously insufficient protection, but with abundant food.
The trustful attitude of woodcocks towards cattle is evidenced by the stories of villagers who are familiar with these birds. In places where there is no hunting press, woodcocks in especially difficult periods of winter are able to feed in the early evening and morning hours right among grazing cows.
Secrets of woodcock behavior
Previously, it was believed that the woodcock, after feeding at night in meadows and pastures, returns to the forest and sits in its shelters almost motionless. However, after waders were marked with radio sensors, it turned out that the behavior of woodcocks is much more complex. Common to the behavior of the birds was that each of them, returning to the forest, always sat near the place where they intended to spend the day.
Woodcocks land either in a thicket or in a clearing, after which they spend some time checking their site. Having found a sheltered place, they immediately begin to feed. And this means that the second half of the night, before returning from the pasture for the day, the bird rested, and did not feed. Telemetric studies also showed that woodcocks prefer twilight hours for feeding on pastures. In the morning, already in the forest, woodcocks feed before sunrise, without moving away from the landing site. At the same time, they control the surroundings, not forgetting about their own safety. They take breaks to rest or care for their plumage at the foot of trees, often at their roots, under fern bushes or under tufts of grass, where they are completely immobile. By 11 o'clock the search for food in the forest resumes. By noon, the woodcock stops looking for food and rests.
Holding caught woodcocks in their hands, ornithologists can determine their age by plumage. Who is in front of them - young, born this year, or adult birds.
On a short winter day, the afternoon rest of the birds is not long, and after 15-16 hours the woodcock resumes its activity again. The longest and most active period of their fattening in the forest begins. It continues until dark and predetermines the departure from the forest to the meadows.
In the forest, the woodcock searches for food in a small area of about a hundred square meters. Sometimes in such areas (rich in worms) two or even three woodcocks feed at the same time. In these cases, joint evening feeding lasts longer - it is easier for several birds to track the situation, and therefore they may not be afraid of a sudden attack by a predator. Evidence of the daytime activity of birds is provided by the woodcocks caught during the hunt, whose beaks turned out to be soiled with the ground, that is, a few minutes before their prey, the birds fed.
Thanks to radio sensors, it was possible to find out many secrets of woodcocks, previously hidden from science.
With the onset of evening twilight, the behavior of woodcocks changes once again. Birds become more lively and mobile, but nevertheless they do not lose their vigilance. According to French researchers and attentive hunters, many woodcocks adhere to such tactics during wintering.
Thus, three daily peaks of woodcock activity can be distinguished - at dawn, at the end of the morning and at the end of the afternoon, which together is about four hours.
Woodcocks, who have taken refuge for a day in the forest, close to each other, leave it at almost the same time at the hour of the evening flight. It was possible to detect the departures of dozens of woodcocks at short intervals, which, after landing on pastures, began to immediately search for food.
Woodcock weather forecasters
The air temperature has a great influence on the behavior of the woodcock in winter. The onset of cold weather, as a rule, sharply activates the behavior of the woodcock up to mass migrations to lands with more favorable conditions. At the same time, woodcocks are able to assess the upcoming cold spells and their duration. Feeling that frosts are coming for a long time, woodcocks can leave these areas and fly either to warmer places, or concentrate along river valleys or on the coasts of the seas. Woodcocks feel how long the cold will last, and if it is short-lived, then they remain in the selected places.
It should be noted that woodcocks show a relative tolerance for low temperatures. Frost generally has a negative effect only when looking for food. If the frosty period is short, then its effect on invertebrates, and above all on earthworms, is not so significant. So, in the mountains in late autumn, you can often meet woodcocks right at the border of the snow that has fallen at night and has not yet melted. In these places, as a rule, there is a powerful layer of leaf litter, which allows earthworms to maintain their vital activity even under a layer of fallen snow.
Woodcock - the favorite game of European hunters
Woodcocks are one of the most popular hunting objects among European hunters. They rank third in terms of prey after mallard and ringed turtledove. With the exception of Slovenia, the Netherlands and Belgium (Flanders), woodcocks are hunted in the rest of Europe.
Woodcock production is estimated in many European countries, but only France, Denmark, Sweden, Great Britain, Austria and Switzerland have statistically reliable data. Based on information from these countries, the annual average woodcock harvest in Europe can be estimated at 3.5 - 4 million birds. The size of the woodcock prey in France is probably about 1 million 200 thousand, in Italy - about a million and in Greece - 550 thousand birds. Together, these three countries harvest about 80% of the European total woodcock. It is in these countries that the impact of the hunting press is most pronounced.
Data on woodcock prey is collected by employees of the bird migration department of the National Directorate of Hunting and Wildlife of France with the participation of the National Union of Hunters of departmental federations. Every year, data on the extraction of woodcock in France is provided by 20 to 25% of hunters in this country, which is about 300,000 people. About ¾ of all woodcock production in France occurs in November and December (74.1%), especially at the end of December (80% of seasonal production). January production is about 13%, February - a little less - 5%. These figures show that hunting is carried out mainly during the autumn migration and at the beginning of the wintering of woodcocks (in November and December).
It may seem that the French are simply exterminating the forest waders, but this is not so. Every year, tens of millions of forest waders fly to France for wintering, since the climate of this country is simply made for woodcock wintering. The hunting laws of France are aimed primarily at maintaining a consistently high number of both local and flying game birds. This is evidenced by the fact that in recent years many departments of France have adopted special laws additionally regulating woodcock hunting. For example, a law that limits the number of hunting days for this species per week, or in the whole season for each hunter. During the hunting seasons of recent years, in many departments, at the request of the hunters' associations, a limited maximum woodcock production was introduced by prefectural regulation. Such events are caused by the understanding of the fragility of the existence of such an important species for France. Petr Chernov
Previously on Woodcock Hunting:
German V. E.
Of the forest feather hunts, woodcock hunting is one of the most common.
Woodcock is a migratory bird, belongs to the order of waders. The color of its plumage is dominated by rusty-brown tones with black and dark brown spots and stripes, the beak is long, large dark eyes are set far to the back of the head. The weight of the bird is about 400 grams.
Woodcock flies from wintering grounds to nesting sites from the end of February to the beginning of May. In the middle zone of the country, it usually appears in April.
Woodcock settles mainly in mixed forests, in which there are clearings, clearings, forest roads and clearings. As a rule, he avoids solid high-stem forests.
Soon after arrival, the woodcock begins the mating season. In the evenings, after sunset, and before the morning dawn, the males rise to the wing and begin to “pull”, that is, lek - they are looking for females hiding on the ground. A woodcock flies, ruffling its feathers, which makes it seem larger, carefully examining the area and making inviting sounds: “Quoog, quog, quog, tssi!” The first knee of the marriage song is pronounced in a dull, hoarse voice and is called a croak. The final sound of the song - tsukane - sounds sharp, abrupt.
The female, having heard the voice of the pulling male, responds, and the male quickly descends towards her. Sometimes the male continues to lek on the ground, but in a different way: resembling a lekking great snipe, he marks time, lowers his wings, lifts his tail and fluffs up his feathers.
The first period of spring draft is especially lively. At this time, along with local woodcocks, that is, those that have flown to nest in this area, woodcocks flying further north are also pulled.
Often, pulling males meet in the air, and then fights arise between them. Birds chase each other, trying to hit the opponent with their beaks.
Sometimes a female woodcock also rises on the wing during draft hours and makes a flight around. If at this time a male meets, then he begins to pursue her, and the birds fly together. Therefore, standing on the traction, you can not shoot at two or more birds flying one after another, as you can ruin the female.
The female woodcock digs a hole in well-protected places, lines it with blades of grass and lays 4 motley eggs in the nest. After 17-18 days, yellowish-red chicks hatch from the eggs, divided along, as it were, in half by a black stripe. Barely dry, the woodcocks leave the nest and, together with the female, wander around the site, looking for. Woodcocks, both adults and young, feed on worms, slugs, insects and their larvae.
Three weeks after hatching, young woodcocks begin to fly. Soon they become independent, the brood breaks up, and the birds switch to a solitary lifestyle. Unlike other waders, woodcocks are not sociable and usually do not gather in large groups.
Before flying south, in summer, grown-up young and old woodcocks make regular evening flights to and on water bodies. They love to visit places of cattle grazing, where they feast on worms that live in cow dung, extracting them with their long and very sensitive beak.
In autumn, some males start the same flights as in spring - thrust. True, it is always smaller in number than the latter. Females do not participate in autumn draft.
From the end of September, the passage of the woodcock to the wintering grounds begins. In years when autumn comes gradually, without sudden and sharp cold snaps, birds flying from the north in certain places accumulate to rest and in large masses. This phenomenon is called a spill. At this time, one of the most interesting hunts is practiced.
Shooting in the spring
The spring draft of woodcocks is one of the most beautiful hunts in the feather. The forest that came to life after hibernation, the choir of songbirds that arrived from the south, the humid air, the solemnly mysterious atmosphere in the forest after sunset - all this creates a beautiful picture that cannot be forgotten. Woodcock is usually shot at evening draft, more intense than morning, which, by the way, usually takes place in the dark.
For evening cravings, you should arrive in advance to choose a comfortable place. You need to stand in some clearing, clearing, at the edge of a clearing or on a rather open and wide forest road. The shelling should be circular, since the woodcock can fly in from any direction. It is most convenient to stand near a small tree (or bush), which would mask the hunter and not interfere with the shooting. When approaching a woodcock, do not make sudden movements.
On a calm evening, the woodcock flies slowly, smoothly, so during the shooting one should not take great lead. In windy weather, the flight of a woodcock becomes fast, swallow-like, and then when aiming it is necessary to take lead. Shooting at the spring woodcock is carried out with small shots, it is best to use No. 6, 7, 8, the fall of the killed game must be carefully monitored, otherwise it may not be found in the twilight, since the color of the bird completely merges with last year's grass and leaves. It is useful to take an electric flashlight with you. When approaching the place of thrust, the hunter sometimes frightens off woodcocks sitting on the ground. You can’t shoot such a noisy woodcock - you can kill the female! Standing on the traction, you can’t also shoot a woodcock flying silently or only “poking” - such a bird may turn out to be a female, and shooting a female in the spring is poaching, this leads to a decrease in the number of game in our forests.
On autumn rashes
It's good to wander through the forest on a fine autumn day! The silence of fading nature surrounds you, the fresh, rarefied autumn air is filled with the aroma of herbs and falling leaves. The sky was covered with a milky white mist. Clouds hang motionless overhead, the distant cooling sun no longer caresses, as in spring, and does not illuminate the mysterious twilight of forest valleys with hot summer light. The golden autumn is coming.
It's time for woodcock hunting. It should be started in the morning at dawn and can be continued throughout the day. It is necessary to look for rashes at the edges of a young infrequent forest, near winter crops and pastures of livestock, on overgrown clearings, along the valleys of forest rivers and streams, in ravines overgrown with small forests.
All pointing dogs are suitable for hunting on vysypka - both English and continental; work well on woodcock and spaniels. Arriving at places where a woodcock is expected to fly, the hunter lets the dog in and, directing its search, searches the most suitable parts of the forest.
Before flying south, the autumn woodcock becomes very fat, becomes lazy and often lets the dog and the hunter come close. However, it is not easy to shoot him. A bird flying up from under the dog deftly maneuvers between the trees or, as the hunters say, "is shielded by a tree." You have to shoot quickly, from a vskidki. And only in more open places it is possible to aim the raised sandpiper well.
If there is bad weather for several days in a row and the rain drizzles continuously, woodcocks leave the forest and move to winter fields, grassy swamps and other open places.
You can shoot an autumn woodcock with exactly the same shot as on a spring draft. When going hunting, it is necessary to have cartridges with large shot and even with buckshot, since in the fall it is possible to meet with large forest game or with a herd of migratory geese that has flown in.
The gun should be with a fairly sharp fight and a wide shot scree. It would be good to wear clothes and shoes that are light, not restricting the hunter's movements, but waterproof in bad weather. It is better to take a bandolier with a lid so as not to wet the cartridges. Killed woodcocks should be carried in a net or on torcs (nooses), and not in closed bags - the game should be ventilated.
When hunting the woodcock, as in other hunts, one should never be greedy and chase for abundant trophies. After shooting a few birds, you should stop hunting. In no case, when hunting for a woodcock, it is impossible to shoot game birds prohibited for shooting, as well as hares, for which hunting is not yet allowed at this time.
The woodcock is a woodcock. These hermit birds lead a solitary life and only during migration they gather in small flocks. The woodcock prefers to nest in the old ones with copses and clearings. He chooses the least visited areas of old linden, aspen and birch forests near damp hollows, streams and drying ditches. The woodcock lives throughout Eurasia from the Pyrenees to the Arctic Circle, and is found on some islands in the Atlantic Ocean.
It is distinguished from other waders by rather large eyes located somewhat closer to the back of the head. This indicates a nocturnal lifestyle. The long beak of a woodcock may seem massive at first glance, but in fact it is hollow inside and therefore very light. The bird wields it like tweezers, extracting earthworms, molluscs and insect larvae from soft soil. At the end of the beak, the woodcock has nerve endings that pick up even the smallest movement in the soil. They help the bird find prey buried in the ground.
SPRING DRIVING
In early spring, in April, the woodcock begins its current flights, the so-called draft.
The male rises into the air as soon as the sun disappears behind the jagged wall of the forest and the last robins and blackbirds calm down. He silently, like a big butterfly, makes circle after circle over his nesting area. In the bright sky, you can only see the flashed silhouette of a bird. The sandpiper flies rather slowly, at a speed of about 8 m/s. During the flight, he tsik and croak: he makes a quiet sound of "tsii-tsii" and then, after a short pause, "hrrr-hrrr". The purpose of the pull is to show competitors that the spot is taken and to attract females. However, they themselves can join the flight, but they do this, as a rule, silently and not for long.
The female calls the cavalier she likes from the ground with a quiet whistle. Two boyfriends will fly up - a fight cannot be avoided. Males rush at each other, take off, arranging real air battles. Birds cling to a ball and so can fall to the ground. But woodcocks do not inflict serious injuries on each other, as a rule, the battle is limited to plucked feathers, and the defeated one is removed from the territory of the winner home. Having fallen to the ground, the male continues to lure the lady of the heart.
He spreads his tail, arches his chest and walks in circles around the female.
FEATHERED PRODUCTS
Woodcocks are polygamous, males mate with several females at once. They do not participate in nest building. After the spring draft, the female climbs into a secluded forest tract, where she builds her simple nest right on the ground in dense thickets. In fact, this is just a hole with a diameter of about 15 cm, lined with a litter of dry grass and leaves 2-3 cm thick. The female lays 4-5 eggs of a light gray or brown color with gray speckles and spots, which incubates for about 22-24 days. During incubation, the mother rarely leaves, only in the morning and evening to refresh herself. The chicks are born covered in variegated down. They grow very fast. Within a couple of hours after birth, the chicks can follow their mother, after three weeks they can fly from place to place, and after another week they can fly. The female leads them all this time, teaching them the wisdom of life. The mother is always on guard, when the enemy approaches, she gives a signal, and the chicks instantly scatter in different directions and hide. The female skillfully plays a wounded bird, flying from place to place - distracting attention. She manages to deceive even such predators as a raccoon dog and a fox. Nevertheless, a lot of chicks die in the first year, less than half of the brood survive to an independent life.
TIME TO FLY
In September, woodcocks gather in small flocks and head south. The signal to fly away is the reduction of daylight hours and the night temperature below zero: when frost binds the earth, the bird can no longer get food for itself. Woodcocks fly early in the morning and late in the evening, in good weather they can spend the whole night in the air. At this time, on the forest edges, pastures, harvested fields, you can find the so-called vysypka - woodcocks, who stopped for a day's rest. Birds sit among the grass and suddenly fly up from under their feet. Finding such outbursts is a great success: in the evening, woodcocks will set off again or change their resting place, the next day you will not find them here. Birds spend winter in Central and North, North Africa and the Middle East. Western European populations are often sedentary.
TRY FIND
Woodcock is a master of disguise. This silent bird has a protective coloration, which, like camouflage, completely hides it among the forest diversity. Even knowing the place where the woodcock hid, it is very difficult to detect it. You can walk past a meter from the sandpiper, mistaking it for a pile of last year's leaves.
If the distance becomes critical, the woodcock suddenly takes off. Its underwing feathers are bright, almost orange in color. A woodcock fluttering sharply, a kind of "fiery flower", discourages and stuns the enemy for a few seconds. This time is enough for the bird to disappear with lightning speed among the branches of trees. The woodcock flies masterfully, making the most complex turns and somersaults in the interweaving of branches.
The bird masters the art of disguise, one might say, while still in the egg. It has a variegated color, which makes the masonry almost invisible against the background of the forest floor. The female sits very tightly on the eggs. When threatened, she hides and closes her eyes. Thus, she extinguishes the brilliance of her eyes, which can give her away. The woodcock nest itself is also very carefully hidden. It can be hidden under an old rotten stump, among a swampy alder forest overgrown with prickly raspberries and stinging nettles, not far from a stream or in a swamp. These thickets serve as a signal to the bird: neither man nor animal can get through them without noise.
For a long time it was believed that the chirping and croaking were produced by the feathers of the woodcock, which cut through the air like a snipe's. But later, scientists found that the bird still sings its spring song with a voice.
A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF
Class: birds.
Order: Charadriiformes.
Family: snipe.
Genus: woodcocks.
Type: woodcock.
Latin name: Scolopax rusticola.
Size: body length - 33-38 cm, wingspan - 55-65 cm.
Weight: 210-460 g.
Coloration: the general tone of the plumage is rusty brown, with red, gray and black streaks in the upper part of the body; the underparts are paler, cream or gray-yellow, with black transverse stripes.
Woodcock lifespan: up to 10 years.
Conservation status: Least endangered species.
Listed in the Red Book of the International Union for Conservation of Nature
Peculiarities
- Plumage: Woodcock's camouflage coloration makes it almost invisible against the background of fallen leaves.
- Flight: when the woodcock takes off, it emits a peculiar "grunt" and a special whistle - "clatter".
- Eggs: well camouflaged. Due to their ocher-white or grayish color with reddish speckles, they are difficult to notice among last year's leaves.
- Eyes: Set high, which increases the field of view of the bird and helps to notice danger when the woodcock bends down to the ground, looking for food.
- Beak: long and strong. Adapted to search for food in the ground. Individual birds have different lengths.
- Nestlings: Woodcocks are one of the few birds that will carry their chicks to another location when threatened.
reproduction
Current flight of woodcocks often begins in spring. The mating season can last until July. Current flight occurs in the evening, after sunset, and often just before dawn. A small group of males flies over the trees and gives out peculiar sounds that sound something like "quarry-quarry-quarry" and a special "clatter" that resembles a high-pitched "tsik-tsik". Sometimes, along with males, females also participate in flight. Hearing the voice of the female sitting on the ground, the male sits next to the chosen one and stays with her for 5-6 days. He leaves her when the female starts laying eggs (there are 3-5 of them). Only the female builds a nest, incubates the eggs and feeds the chicks, without the help of a partner. The male at this time is trying to find another female. Woodcocks have developed polygamy. The female incubates the eggs for 20-24 days. At the age of 3 weeks, the chicks become winged, and at the age of 6 weeks they are completely independent.
Lifestyle
The woodcock is a solitary bird. In pairs, these birds live only a few days in spring or early summer. They inhabit dense mixed or deciduous forests with shrubs. In flight, the woodcock can be recognized by its rounded wings and a special body contour (the neck of the bird does not stand out, as if it were not there). The long, straight beak is directed downwards during the flight. The woodcock is hunted for meat. Due to its camouflage coloration, the woodcock, which is located on the ground among shrubs and ferns, is difficult to notice. Pressing close to the ground, the bird motionlessly waits for a person to come close to him. Then suddenly takes off, loudly flapping its wings.
Nutrition
The woodcock mainly feeds on earthworms and insects. Particular preference is given to beetles and dipteran larvae (mosquitoes, flies, flies). The woodcock seeks out places with soft and moist soil and, as it were, probes the soil, extracting the necessary food. He plunges his long beak deep into the ground, and, finding a worm, insect or larva, opens his beak, grabs the prey and pulls it out of the ground. In bad weather, woodcocks gather in large flocks on the seashore, where they look for those thrown by the waves or left on the sand after low tide. In small quantities, it also consumes plant foods.
Woodcock watching
A frightened bird takes off sharply, loudly flapping its wings. It is easier to observe the woodcock in spring and early summer, when males perform mating flights during mating. Sometimes females join them. They fly over the edges of the forest, just above the treetops, from sunset until dusk. Such a flight of woodcocks is accompanied by a "clatter" and a whistle.
Do you know that...
- The woodcock is one of the few birds that, in the event of a threat, transfers the chicks to another, safer place. The female either pulls them on the run, holding them with her beak, or clamps the chick between her body and raised bent legs and flies with him.
- This is one of the few representatives of shorebirds that lives not near the water, but in the forest, near wet places.
- Due to its large eyes, the woodcock sees quite well in the dark. Its eyes are set quite high, so the bird, even lowering its head while searching for food, can notice a potential enemy.
- If an enemy appears near the nest, the woodcock pretends to be wounded and tries to take him away from the chicks or eggs.
habitats
Breeds in Eurasia, from Great Britain and France to Sakhalin and Hokkaido, in the Himalayas, in the Caucasus. Winters in Western Europe (Great Britain), in the Mediterranean countries.
Threats
Throughout its range it is an object of hunting. However, environmental pollution poses a serious threat to it.
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