Michele Mendi

Widespread gamebird across much of Palaearctic region (Cramp & Simmons 1983). Breeds mainly in boreal and temperate woodlands, from Portugal to E Asia, also in some sub-tropical Atlantic archipelagos in Macaronesia (Cramp & Simmons 1983). Woodcocks from N Eurasia are migratory and those from SW Europe, resident (Hoodless 1995).

Season of assessment

B

Population trendDecreasing
Population size
(min-max, best estimate)		9790000-13500000,11500000
Red List categoryLC
Franks, S., Fiedler, W., Arizaga, J., Jiguet, F., Nikolov, B., van der Jeugd, Ambrosini, R, Aizpurua, O., Bairlein, F., Clark, J., Fattorini, N, Hammond, M., Higgins, D, Levering, H., Skellorn, W., Spina, F, Thorup, K. Walker, J., Woodward, I. and Baillie, S.R. (1) (2022) Online Atlas of the movements of European bird populations. https://migrationatlas.org EURING/CMS (1) Principal investigator
Map

Overall Connectivity for Eurasian Woodcock

Main NE-SW axis of migration, with high overlapping of populations from several origin regions in SW Europe (main winter quarters in Iberia and France, to a lesser extent in Italy). To some extent, leap-frog migration, with birds from E Europe/Russia (up to Central Siberia) migrating longer distances, reaching Iberia. Remote tracking revealed that woodcocks followed fairly direct routes of migration (Arizaga et al. 2014). Stopover duration tend to be shortened when birds were closer to their breeding areas, located further east than previously stated with ring-recovery data for woodcocks wintering in Iberia (Arizaga et al. 2014).

Recoveries by Condition for Eurasian Woodcock

A gamebird, so most recoveries come from birds dead by shot (ca. 70%). Before 1990, shooting comprised ca. 80% of all recoveries but from 1991 to present this percentage has decreased to ca. 70%, in favor of an increasing proportion (ca. 25%) of recoveries of birds alive, recaptured by ringing. This is mostly caused by a relatively recent increasing amount of projects to ring woodcocks in order to estimate their survival prospects (among many other issues), especially in southern Europe (Tavecchia et al. 2002, Péron et al. 2012, Prieto et a. 2019).

Annual Movements for Eurasian Woodcock

Ring-recovery data show that, in autumn, migration over Europe is patent in Oct, with arrival to winter quarters in Oct-Nov. Scape movements within-winter possible, in particular under harsh conditions (cold spills), that force birds to move to the coast and/or to south (Péron et al. 2011, Guzmán et al. 2017). Spring migration patent in Mar, with arrival to breeding quarters in Apr-May. However, census data reveal that wintering areas may start to be depleted from Feb (Arizaga et al. 2014). Remote tracking revealed: median departure from Iberia on 20 Mar, spring migration lasted a mean of 40 days, median date of arrival to breeding quarters on 29 Apr (Arizaga et al. 2014).

Connectivity by Month by Region for Eurasian Woodcock

Similar temporal patterns for all those population which show migratory behavior. Birds from N Europe move mostly across the Atlantic façade. Leave their breeding sites in Sep/Oct, with recoveries again at or close their breeding quarters in Mar. Birds from C/E Europe migrate parallel as compared to those from N Europe, i.e. they have a more continental, less coastal flyway (though birds from E Europe obviously show longer migration distances). Recoveries in Sep still in E Europe; by Oct most recoveries in W/SW Europe. Population from NW, W, SW Europe, mainly resident with just short-range movements found. Birds wintering in Italy mostly from E Europe (i.e. a higher proportion of Central Siberian birds).

Juan Arizaga

References

Statistics Map
N records N individuals N recoveries
Mapped data*
Total available data
*Mapped data include only distant (>= 50 km) recoveries
References Map
Arizaga, J., Crespo, A., Telletxea, I., Ibáñez, R., Díez, F., Tobar, J., Minondo, M., Ibarrola, Z., Fuente, J., Pérez, J.2014 . Solar/Argos PTTs contradict ring-recovery analyses: Woodcocks wintering in Spain are found to breed further east than previously stated. Journal of Ornithology 156: 515–523
Cramp, S., Simmons, K. E. L.1983 . Handbook of the Birds of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, Volume 3. Oxford University Press, New York, NY, USA
Guzmán, J. L., Caro, J., Arroyo, B.2017 . Factors influencing mobility and survival of Eurasian Woodcock wintering in Spain. Avian Conservation and Ecology 12
Hoodless, A. N.1995 . Eurasian Woodcock. British Birds 88: 578–592
Péron, G., Ferrand, Y., Choquet, R., Pradel, R., Gossmann, F., Bastat, C., Guenezan, M., Bauthian, I., Julliard, R., Gimenez, O.2012 . Spatial heterogeneity in mortality and its impact on the population dynamics of Eurasian woodcocks. Population Ecology 54: 305–312
Péron, G., Ferrand, Y., Gossmann, F. o., Bastat, C., Guénézan, M., Gimenez, O.2011 . Escape migration decisions in Eurasian Woodcocks: insights from survival analyses using large-scale recovery data. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 65: 1949–1955
Prieto, N., Tavecchia, G., Telletxea, I., Ibañez, R., Ansorregi, F., Galdos, A., Urruzola, A., Iriarte, I., Arizaga, J.2019 . Survival probabilities of wintering Eurasian Woodcocks Scolopax rusticola in northern Spain reveal a direct link with hunting regimes. Journal of Ornithology
Tavecchia, G., Pradel, R., Gossmann, F., Bastat, C., Ferrand, Y., Lebreton, J. D.2002 . Temporal variation in annual survival probability of the Eurasian woodcock Scolopax rusticola wintering in France. Wildlife Biology 8: 21–30

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