This shorebird walks on the forest floor and probes the soil with its long bill for earthworms.
Its brown-mottled plumage blends with leaf litter. It uses its long bill to probe the soil for earthworms.
American Woodcock use young forest and open areas during the breeding season. In Rhode Island, a study found higher use by males in deciduous wetland forest, young wetland forest near agricultural openings, and patches of upland young forest. The work examined habitat use in a region where young forest has become scarce.
Researchers combined location-based habitat-selection models with forest-management scenarios to estimate where males might spend time. The model predicted higher use when young upland forest was arranged in several smaller patches rather than fewer, larger patches. Early-successional forest openings also served as night roosts where mammalian predators were less active.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
In Rhode Island, young forest and shrubland covered 3.3% of the state’s land and 1.4% of non-coastal uplands in 2008; the paper reports that these habitats were declining by at least 1.5% per year. Its model predicted greater male use under a scenario with several smaller young-forest patches.