Woodcock

Tim Melling
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Woodcock
Woodcock

Here is another photograph of the nesting Woodcock that I found recently. My usual bird lens was impossible to use in this situation so I returned with a short lens. Even though it is close, it is not easy to see as it blends in with the dead leaves perfectly. The female alone does the incubation and chick-rearing so I know this is a female, even though the sexes have similar plumage. They are incredibly secretive birds and the only time I usually see them is during their dusk display flights, called roding. They make a really odd mix of sounds; Three low growls followed by a high-pitched sneezing sound. Here it is on Xeno Canto after the initial Robin song: xeno-canto.org/595560

Woodcocks are really difficult to survey but it has been placed on the Red List because of a >50% breeding range contraction from 1968-72 to 2008-11. They are usually recorded as probable breeding if males are seen roding. But a >50% range contraction means that more than half of the 10km squares that recorded Woodcock in 1968, no longer held Woodcock in 2011. This will probably mean an even greater population decline (cf range contraction) because many of these 10km squares would have held many breeding pairs.

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Taken on: May 7, 2024
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Sets appears in:   • British Birds   
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