American Woodcock

Scolopax minorOrder: CHARADRIIFORMES Family: Sandpipers (Scolopacidae)

Codes: Common Name: AMWO Scientific Name: SCOMIN ITIS Taxonomic No.: 176580

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Overview

American Woodcock: Medium, stocky sandpiper with buff-brown underparts and dark-streaked gray-brown upperparts. Head shows black bars rather than the stripes of most other sandpipers. Eyes are black and very large; bill is dull yellow with a black tip and is long and stout. Pale gray legs and feet.

Range and Habitat

American Woodcock: Found in open woodlands and moist overgrown fields from southern Canada to the Gulf Coast.

Topo Map: Sandpiper-like Body

Listen to Call

Similar Sounding

Voice Text

"peent"

Interesting Facts

The elaborate courtship ritual of the male American Woodcock may be repeated as long as four months running, sometimes continuing even after females have already hatched their brood and left the nest.

In this species, there is no pair bond and the male provides no parental care. Nor is there any evidence of a social dominance hierarchy.

These birds are seldom seen during the day. They are typically active during times of low light such as dawn, dusk, moonlit nights and sometime on cloudy days. They also migrate at night, singly or in small, loose flocks.

A group of woodcocks has many collective nouns, including a "cord", "fall", "flight", "plump", and "rush" of woodcocks.

Bird Term Glossary

Author

Gary Owen Dick

Related Birds

Jack Snipe
Wilson's Snipe

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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

American Woodcock

● Song: "peent"

● Foraging & Feeding: American Woodcock: Feeds by probing in soft soil with its long sensitive bill. Eats primarily earthworms but also burrowing insect larvae. May rock gently back and forth while feeding, a behavior that is thought to startle worms so they move.

● Breeding & nesting: American Woodcock: Famous for the male's elaborate courtship flights that are called "sky dances." Every evening and sunrise for months, males gather in open wet fields to launch into high twisting flights with musical twittering notes and chirping calls. Females visit these dancing grounds and mate with one of the males, then nest solitarily on the ground in overgrown fields. Lays four buff or red brown eggs spotted with brown and purple. Incubation is 20-22 days, and chicks leave the nest within hours of hatching, and start feeding themselves after the first week.

● Similar species: American Woodcock: Wilson's Snipe lacks rufous hues and has heavily marked underparts, head stripes are lengthwise.

Flight Pattern

If flushed suddenly from the ground the woodcock will rise vertically with noisy twittering wings, then fly off with rapid, zigzagging flight. Courtship flight involves an upward spiraling flight then rapid fluttering descent.

● Range & Habitat: American Woodcock: Found in open woodlands and moist overgrown fields from southern Canada to the Gulf Coast.

^BreedingMonogamous, Solitary nester

^Population

^MigrationMigratory

^Weight6.2 Ounces

Sandpiper-like Body

Underparts

Belly, undertail coverts, chest, flanks, and foreneck.

Upperparts

Back, rump, hindneck, wings, and crown.

4 and 6 letter alpha codes

The four letter common name alpha code is is derived from the first two letters of the common first name and the first two letters of common last name. The six letter species name alpha code is derived from the first three letters of the scientific name (genus) and the first three letters of the scientific name (species). See (1) below for the rules used to create the codes..

Four-letter (for English common names) and six-letter (for scientific names) species alpha codes were developed by Pyle and DeSante (2003, North American Bird-Bander 28:64-79) to reflect A.O.U. taxonomy and nomenclature (A.O.U. 1998) as modified by Supplements 42 (Auk 117:847-858, 2000) and 43 (Auk 119:897-906, 2002). The list has been updated by Pyle and DeSante to reflect changes reported by the A.O.U from 2003 through 2006.

Field Guide to Birds of North America