American woodcocks have several other interesting common names, including timberdoodle, Labrador twister, night partridge and bog sucker (Keppie and Whiting, Jr. 1994).
American woodcocks use vocalizations and physical displays to communicate. They make at least four recognized calls, including the Peent, Tuko, Chirping and Cackle. Males perform a spectacular display called a “song flight” or “sky dance”, presumably to attract potential mates. In this display, males fly silently into the air, rising in continually widening circles up to about 100 m. Their wings 'twitter' with increasing melody as they rise. They hover momentarily and begin singing and chirping vigorously, continuing to sing while fluttering down like a falling leaf. In the breeding season, the song flight follows a bout of Peenting. It is not known if song flights are used solely to attract females; they are also performed in the presence of other males or when the male is alone (Keppie and Whiting, 1994; Terres, 1980)
Communication Channels: visual ; acoustic
Perception Channels: visual ; tactile ; acoustic ; chemical
Populations of American woodcocks appear to have declined over the past several decades. However, there is not sufficient data to accurately track woodcock populations. Sources of mortality for American woodcocks include hunting and collisions with cars, utility wires, lighthouses, TV towers, and other structures during migration. They are also sometimes killed in long periods of cold or freezing weather when food is unavailable. Scientists are concerned that American woodcocks are threatened on their breeding and wintering grounds by hydrocarbon pesticides sprayed for insect control. However, this has not been sufficiently studied. (Keppie and Whiting, 1994; Terres, 1980)
American woodcocks are protected under the U.S. Migratory Bird Act. They are not protected under CITES or the U.S. Endangered Species Act.
US Migratory Bird Act: protected
US Federal List: no special status
CITES: no special status
State of Michigan List: no special status
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: least concern
There are no known adverse affects of American woodcocks on humans.
American woodcocks are a popular gamebird. An average of 2 million American woodcocks are shot each year by hunters.
Positive Impacts: food ; ecotourism
American woodcocks affect the local populations of the earthworms and insect species that they eat. They may aerate the soil while probing for insects and earthworms. They also host at least 49 different types of parasites.
Ecosystem Impact: soil aeration
American woodcocks primarily eat invertebrates. Earthworms account for 50-90% of the diet, which also includes beetles, flies, centipedes, and various insect larvae. Woodcocks occasionally eat seeds, but plant materials account for a very small fraction of their total diet.
American woodcocks feed mostly during the day in spring and summer. In winter, they feed at night. They are generally solitary foragers, though they don’t defend a feeding territory, and loose concentrations may develop if few suitable sites are available. Woodcocks locate surface food visually. There is some evidence that they use foot-stomping and shifts in weight to locate subsurface prey. If one of those movements causes an earthworm to move underground, a woodcock locates the worm either by hearing it or by feeling its vibrations through the bill, which it keeps in contact with the ground. (Keppie and Whiting, 1994; US Forest Service)
Woodcocks probably do not drink water. They obtain sufficient water in the foods that they eat.
Animal Foods: insects; terrestrial worms
Plant Foods: seeds, grains, and nuts
Primary Diet: carnivore (Vermivore)
American woodcocks occurs only in North America. They are distributed widely in the eastern United States and southeast Canada. Some individuals may winter in the Caribbean (Keppie and Whiting 1994).
Biogeographic Regions: nearctic (Native )
American woodcocks are found in forests with open areas. A mosaic of young forests and abandoned farm fields is ideal for woodcocks. The specific habitat varies with activity and season. Woodcocks prefer areas with woody vegetation for singing grounds, and forest edges or areas with cover for feeding. They nest in a variety of habitats such as open fields, mixed forests, brush fields, and coniferous forests. Wintering grounds are a wide variety of forest types, including bottomland hardwoods, mature longleaf pine forests, and upland mixed pine-hardwood forests.
Habitat Regions: temperate
Terrestrial Biomes: forest
Other Habitat Features: agricultural
The maximum known lifespan of American woodcocks is 8 years.
Range lifespan
Status: wild: 8 (high) years.
Average lifespan
Status: wild: 251 months.
American woodcocks are short, plump, compact birds with very long (5.9 to 7.8 cm) bills that are specialized for feeding on earthworms. Woodcocks are mottled brown, rich buff and gray in a way that camouflages them well in woodland habitat. Their heads are large, with three dark bands across the back. Woodcocks have large brown eyes that are set far back in the skull, providing rearview binocular vision. Their wings are broad and rounded.
Male and female American woodcocks are similar in appearance, though females are generally larger than males. Female American woodcocks range from 27 to 31 cm long and can weigh 151 to 279 g. Their wingspans range from 44.6 to 50.8 cm. Males range from 25 to 28 cm long and weigh 116 to 219 g. Their wingspans range from 40.4 to 45.5 cm (Keppie and Whiting, 1994; Terres, 1980).
Range mass: 116 to 279 g.
Range length: 25 to 31 cm.
Range wingspan: 40 to 51 cm.
Sexual Dimorphism: female larger
Other Physical Features: endothermic ; bilateral symmetry
Average basal metabolic rate: 1.066 W.
Though specific predators of American woodcocks have not been well documented, predation is the primary cause of woodcock mortality in many areas. Woodcock adults, chicks and eggs are vulnerable to predation by a number of avian and mammalian predators, including domestic cats. Eggs are also vulnerable to predation by snakes.
Woodcocks are cryptically colored in brown, buff and gray. This coloration allows them to blend in with their habitat, making them less visible to predators. In response to predators, females may feign injury in order to draw a predator away from her nest or chicks.
Known Predators:
Anti-predator Adaptations: cryptic
American woodcocks are polygynous. Courtship and nesting span a six-month period, usually beginning in late February or early May. The male may even begin his courtship flights on the wintering grounds, and continue them on the breeding grounds. Males attract a mate by performing a courtship flight, called a “sky dance,” at dusk and dawn. They spiral up high, flittering their wings and chirping, and then circle sharply back to the ground, where they make a peenting call. The areas where males perform this display are called 'singing sites' or 'breeding fields', and each male is loyal to a few sites. Females then chose between available males. There is no pair-bond, and males give no parental care. There is also no mate guarding.
Mating System: polygynous
The female builds a simple nest on the ground. Sometimes she builds no nest at all, and the eggs are simply laid upon dry litter. She lays 1 to 5 (usually 4) eggs shortly after mating. The eggs are grayish-orange, and are incubated for 20 to 22 (usually 21) days. All of the eggs in a nest hatch within 4 to 5 hours, and the female broods the chicks until they are dry. The chicks then all leave the nest together within a few hours of hatching. The female continues to brood the chicks for some part of the time until they are 15 to 20 days old. She feeds them for the first week, but they are able to search for food at 3 to 4 days old. The chicks are nearly fully grown at 28 days after hatching and become independent at 31 to 38 days. They are sexually mature in 10 to 12 months. (Keppie and Whiting, 1994; Terres, 1980)
Breeding interval: American woodcocks breed once yearly.
Breeding season: American woodcocks begin breeding activities as early as January, though most activity takes place in April and May.
Range eggs per season: 1 to 5.
Average eggs per season: 4.
Range time to hatching: 20 to 22 days.
Range fledging age: 1 (high) days.
Range time to independence: 31 to 38 days.
Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female): 10 to 12 months.
Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male): 10 to 12 months.
Key Reproductive Features: iteroparous ; seasonal breeding ; gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate); sexual ; oviparous
Average eggs per season: 4.
Male woodcocks do not provide any parental care. Female woodcocks build the nest and incubate the eggs for approximately 21 days. They brood and protect the precocial chicks until they reach independence, and feed the chicks for the first week after hatching.
Parental Investment: precocial ; pre-fertilization (Provisioning, Protecting: Female); pre-hatching/birth (Protecting: Female); pre-weaning/fledging (Provisioning: Female, Protecting: Female); pre-independence (Provisioning: Female, Protecting: Female)
