# American Woodcock

*Scolopax minor*

The woodcock's brain is essentially upside down compared to other birds, an evolutionary trade-off for having 360-degree vision to spot predators while probing soil.

- **Taxonomy:** Animalia › Chordata › Aves › Charadriiformes › Scolopacidae › Scolopax
- **IUCN Red List status:** Least Concern
- **Population trend:** decreasing
- **Biome:** forest
- **Habitat:** Early-successional young forests, alder thickets, and moist old fields near wetlands.
- **Diet:** Primarily earthworms, supplemented by various soil-dwelling insects and larvae.
- **Range:** Eastern United States, Southeastern Canada
- **Size:** 25-30 cm length, wingspan of 42-48 cm
- **Lifespan:** 8 years
- **Active:** crepuscular
- **Threats:** Loss of early-successional forest habitat due to forest maturation and land development, and collisions with glass.
- **Safe to approach?:** Harmless and shy. If you flush one, it will fly up with a distinct whistling sound. Keep a respectful distance, especially during spring 'sky dance' displays at dusk to avoid interrupting mating rituals.

## About

The American woodcock ( Scolopax minor ), sometimes colloquially referred to as the timberdoodle , is a small chunky shorebird species found primarily in the eastern half of North America. Woodcocks spend most of their time on the ground in brushy, young-forest habitats, where the birds' brown, black, and gray plumage provides excellent camouflage.

## Sources

- Plate: https://gaia-dex.com/species/162939c5-1da4-4d01-8cd8-5a07746b08bd
- iNaturalist: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/3936
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scolopax minor
- Conservation status: IUCN Red List category, as recorded by Gaia-Dex
- Photo: https://inaturalist-open-data.s3.amazonaws.com/photos/27633370/medium.jpg (Owen Strickland, CC-BY, via iNaturalist)

Habitat, diet, size and similar notes are AI-written summaries; check them against the linked sources before relying on them.