Large. Plump, with rounded wings, long bill. Sexes alike.
Adults: Face, chin, brownish-buff. Lores, bar on cheek, blackish-brown. Crown, brown with four broad buffy-brown bars across the crown and nape. Chin, throat, pale buff with no barring. Eyering, white with no patch of skin behind eye. Eye, dark brown. Back, scapulars, lesser coverts, buff. Outer webs of scapulars, tan, outlined with pale rufous, forming two parallel lines down back. Lower back, rump, uppertail coverts, barred dark brown, tan and rufous. Tail, blackish with rufous notches. Uppertail coverts, underparts, barred. Wing coverts barred with light brown and pale rufous. Bill, greyish-brown, with a slightly darker tip and a pinkish base. Legs, greyish-brown or pinkish-brown.
Other Names (World)
Eurasian Woodcock, Woodcock, Longbill
Family
Scolopacidae (Sandpipers, Snipes, Phalaropes)
Afghanistan (NB), Albania (B) (NB), Algeria, Armenia (B), Austria (B), Azerbaijan (B) (NB), Belarus (B), Belgium (B) (NB), Bhutan (B), Bulgaria (B) (NB), China (mainland) (B), Croatia (Local Name: Hrvatska) (B) (NB), Cyprus (NB), Czech Republic (B) (NB), Denmark (B) (NB) (P), Egypt, Estonia (B) (NB), Faroe Islands (NB), Finland (B), France (B) (NB) (P), Georgia (B), Germany (B) (NB) (P), Greece (B) (NB) (P), Hong Kong (China), Hungary (B) (P), India (B), Iran [Islamic Republic of], Iraq (NB), Ireland (B) (NB), Israel, Italy (B) (NB) (P), Japan (B), Kazakhstan (B), Kyrgyzstan (NB) (P), Laos, Latvia (B) (NB), Lebanon, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Liechtenstein (B), Lithuania (B), Luxembourg (B) (NB), Macedonia [The Former Yugoslav Republic of] (B) (NB), Malta, Moldova [Republic of] (B) (NB) (P), Mongolia (B), Montenegro (B) (NB), Morocco, Myanmar, Nepal (B), Netherlands Antilles (B) (NB), North Korea, Norway (B), Pakistan (B), Poland (B) (NB), Portugal (B) (NB), Romania (B) (NB), Russia (Asian) (B), Russia (Central Asian) (B), Russia (European) (B) (NB), Serbia (B) (NB), Slovakia (Slovak Republic) (B) (NB), Slovenia (B) (NB) (P), South Korea, Spain (B) (NB), Sri Lanka, Sweden (B), Switzerland (B) (NB), Taiwan (China), Tajikistan, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey (B) (NB), Turkmenistan, Ukraine (B) (NB) (P), United Kingdom (B) (NB), Uzbekistan, Vietnam.
Vagrant to Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bosnia and Herzegovina (E), Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Gibraltar (NB), Greenland, Iceland, Jordan, Kuwait, Malaysia, Oman, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands, Syrian Arab Republic, United Arab Emirates, USA.
Population
Estimated population is 10,000,000 - 26,000,000 (2010).
Eurasian Woodcock (Scolopax rusticola) [XC789632]
by Stanislas Wroza from Lagoa do Landroal, Portugal (flight call, song)
Eurasian Woodcock (Scolopax rusticola) [XC586590]
by Frank Holzapfel from Gmina Lutowiska, Powiat bieszczadzki, Podkarpackie, Poland (song, display flight)
Nest
A shallow cup on the ground in woods, concealed by thick vegetation, lined with leaves.
Eggs (Guide)
4; slightly glossy, various from greyish-white, buff and brown, with reddish-brown and greyish blotches usually fairly thick; blunt pyriform. Incubation: about 21 days; by female.
The Reader's Digest Book of British Birds 1980, 3rd Edition, Drive Publications Ltd ISBN 0 340 25308 8
Birds in Colour Campbell, B., 1960, Penguin Books Ltd
The Pocket Guide to Nest and Eggs Fitter, R.S.R., 1954, Collins
RSPB Handbook of British Birds Holden, P., Cleeves, T., 2002, A & C Black ISBN 0 7136 5713 8
Birds of Britain and Europe Sterry, P., et al., 2001, AA Publishing ISBN 0 7495 3068 5
The Popular Handbook of British Birds Hollom, P.A.D., 1973, H.F. & G. Witherby Ltd ISBN 0 85493 002 7
BirdLife International Species Factsheet