American Woodcock

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American Woodcock

The American Woodcock, Scolopax minor, is a small chunky shorebird

Wader

Waders, called shorebirds in North America , are members of the order Charadriiformes, excluding the more marine web-footed seabird groups....
species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring....
from North America

North America

North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost totally in the western hemisphere....
. It is popularly known as timberdoodle and a well-known game bird.

Adults have short pinkish legs and a very long straight bill with an articulated tip. The body is patterned cinnamon on top and a lighter brown underneath. They have large eyes located high in the head, and their visual field is probably the largest of any bird, 360^o in the horizontal plane, and 180^o in the vertical plane.

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Encyclopedia

The American Woodcock, Scolopax minor, is a small chunky shorebird

Wader

Waders, called shorebirds in North America , are members of the order Charadriiformes, excluding the more marine web-footed seabird groups....
species

Species

North America

North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost totally in the western hemisphere....
. The northernmost birds migrates

Bird migration

Bird migration refers to the regular seasonal journeys undertaken by many species of birds. Bird movements include those made in response to changes in food availability, habitat or weather....
to the southern parts of the breeding range in winter. Based on the Christmas Bird Count

Christmas Bird Count

The Christmas Bird Count is a census of birds in the Western Hemisphere, performed annually in the early Northern-hemisphere winter by volunteer birders....
results, winter concentrations are highest in the northern half of Alabama

Alabama

Alabama is a state located in the Southern United States of the United States of America. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west....
.

Migrating birds' arrival at and departure from the breeding range is highly irregular. In Ohio

Ohio

Ohio is a Midwestern United States U.S. state of the United States. As part of the Great Lakes region , Ohio has long been a cultural and geographical crossroads in North America....
for example, the earliest birds are seen in February, but the bulk of the population does not arrive until March/April. Birds start to leave for winter by September, but some remain until mid-November.

These birds forage by probing in soft soil in thickets, usually well-hidden from sight. They mainly eat earthworms and insects, also plant material. They are crepuscular

Crepuscular

Crepuscular is a term used to describe some animals that are primarily active during twilight, that is at dawn and at dusk. The word is derived from the Latin word crepusculum, meaning "twilight"....
, being most active at dawn and dusk.

The male performs a high spiralling flight

Skylarking (birds)

Skylarking refers to the aerial displays including song made by various species of birds, such as Cassin's Sparrow . Many skylarking Display s are in courtship. Some are referred to as territorial displays by the male....
during courtship, generating a twittering sound as air moves through its wing feathers. These performances occur over open areas near feeding locations at dawn, dusk, and if the light levels are high enough on moonlit nights. The ritual may be repeated as long as four months running - sometimes continuing even after females have already hatched their brood and left the nest. American Woodcocks nest on the ground in an open wooded location. Woodcock young are precocial

Precocial

In Biology, the term precocial refers to species in which the young are relatively mature and mobile from the moment of birth or hatching. The opposite developmental strategy is called "altricial", where the young are born helpless....
.

This species is not considered globally threatened by the IUCN. It is more tolerant of deforestation

Deforestation

Deforestation is the logging or burning of trees in forested areas. There are several reasons for doing so: trees or derived charcoal can be sold as a commodity and are used by humans while cleared land is used as pasture, plantations of commodities and human settlement....
than other woodcock

Woodcock

The woodcocks are a group of seven extant very similar wader bird species in the genus Scolopax, characterised by a long slender bill and cryptic brown and blackish plumage....
s and snipe

Snipe

A snipe is any of nearly 20 wader bird species in three genus in the family Scolopacidae. They are characterised by a very long slender bill and cryptic plumage....
s; as long as some sheltered woodland remains for breeding, it can thrive even in regions that are mainly used for agriculture

Agriculture

Agriculture refers to the production of food and goods through farming and forestry. Agriculture was the key development that led to the rise of civilization, with the animal husbandry of domestication animals and plants creating food surpluses that enabled the development of more Population density and Social stratification societies....
.

Footnotes

External links

- Cornell Lab of Ornithology
- USGS Patuxent Bird Identification Infocenter
- South Dakota Birds and Birding
- Illustrated account of the phenomenal courtship flight of the male American Woodcock
on the Internet Bird Collection
; – www.fws.gov–"Moosehorn National Wildlife Refuge", photo gallery and analysis