Eurasian Woodcock (Scolopax rusticola) | Details

Eurasian Woodcock Scolopax rusticola

Current view: Data table and detailed info

Taxonomy

Taxonomic source(s)
AERC TAC. 2003. AERC TAC Checklist of bird taxa occurring in Western Palearctic region, 15th Draft. Available at: http://www.aerc.eu/DOCS/Bird_taxa_of_the_WP15.xls.
Cramp, S. and Simmons, K.E.L. (eds). 1977-1994. Handbook of the birds of Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The birds of the western Palearctic. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
del Hoyo, J., Collar, N.J., Christie, D.A., Elliott, A. and Fishpool, L.D.C. 2014. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Volume 1: Non-passerines. Lynx Edicions BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.

IUCN Red List criteria met and history

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2016	Least Concern
2014	Least Concern
2012	Least Concern
2009	Least Concern
2008	Least Concern
2004	Least Concern
2000	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1994	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1988	Lower Risk/Least Concern

Species attributes

Migratory status	full migrant	Forest dependency	medium
Land-mass type		Average mass	-

Range

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	49,000,000 km²	medium
Extent of Occurrence (non-breeding)	52,500,000 km²	medium
Severely fragmented?	no	-

Population

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	unknown	poor	estimated	2012
Population trend	stable	-	suspected	-
Generation length	6.3 years	-	-	-

Population justification: The global population is estimated to number c.10,000,000-26,000,000 individuals (Wetlands International 2015). The European population is estimated at 6,890,000-8,710,000 calling or lekking males, which equates to 13,800,000-17,400,000 mature individuals (BirdLife International 2015).

Trend justification: The largest population is estimated to be stable (BirdLife International 2015). Therefore the overall population trend is stable, although some populations have unknown trends (Wetlands International 2015).

Country/territory distribution

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Afghanistan	extant	native			yes
Albania	extant	native	yes
Algeria	extant	native
Armenia	extant	native		yes
Austria	extant	native		yes
Azerbaijan	extant	native	yes
Bahrain	extant	vagrant			yes
Bangladesh	extant	vagrant
Belarus	extant	native		yes
Belgium	extant	native	yes
Bhutan	extant	native		yes
Bosnia and Herzegovina	possibly extinct	vagrant
Brunei	extant	vagrant
Bulgaria	extant	native	yes
Canada	extant	vagrant
China (mainland)	extant	native		yes
Croatia	extant	native	yes
Cyprus	extant	native			yes
Czechia	extant	native	yes
Denmark	extant	native	yes			yes
Egypt	extant	native
Estonia	extant	native	yes
Faroe Islands (to Denmark)	extant	native			yes
Finland	extant	native		yes
France	extant	native	yes			yes
Georgia	extant	native		yes
Germany	extant	native	yes			yes
Gibraltar (to UK)	extant	vagrant			yes
Greece	extant	native	yes			yes
Greenland (to Denmark)	extant	vagrant
Hong Kong (China)	extant	native
Hungary	extant	native		yes		yes
Iceland	extant	vagrant
India	extant	native		yes
Iran, Islamic Republic of	extant	native			yes
Iraq	extant	native			yes
Ireland	extant	native	yes
Israel	extant	native
Italy	extant	native	yes			yes
Japan	extant	native		yes
Jordan	extant	vagrant
Kazakhstan	extant	native		yes
Kuwait	extant	native			yes
Kyrgyzstan	extant	native			yes	yes
Laos	extant	native
Latvia	extant	native	yes
Lebanon	extant	native			yes	yes
Libya	extant	native
Liechtenstein	extant	native		yes
Lithuania	extant	native		yes
Luxembourg	extant	native	yes
Malaysia	extant	vagrant
Malta	extant	native
Moldova	extant	native	yes			yes
Mongolia	extant	native		yes
Montenegro	extant	native	yes
Morocco	extant	native
Myanmar	extant	native
Nepal	extant	native		yes
Netherlands	extant	native	yes
North Korea	extant	native
North Macedonia	extant	native	yes
Norway	extant	native		yes
Oman	extant	vagrant			yes
Pakistan	extant	native		yes
Palestine	extant	native			yes	yes
Philippines	extant	vagrant
Poland	extant	native	yes
Portugal	extant	native	yes
Romania	extant	native	yes
Russia	extant	native	yes	yes
Russia (Asian)	extant	native		yes
Russia (Central Asian)	extant	native		yes
Russia (European)	extant	native	yes
Saudi Arabia	extant	native			yes
Serbia	extant	native	yes
Singapore	extant	native			yes
Slovakia	extant	native	yes
Slovenia	extant	native	yes			yes
South Korea	extant	native
Spain	extant	native	yes
Sri Lanka	extant	native
Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands (to Norway)	extant	vagrant
Sweden	extant	native		yes
Switzerland	extant	native	yes
Syria	extant	native			yes
Taiwan, China	extant	native
Tajikistan	extant	native
Thailand	extant	native
Tunisia	extant	native
Türkiye	extant	native	yes
Turkmenistan	extant	native
Ukraine	extant	native	yes			yes
United Arab Emirates	extant	vagrant			yes
United Kingdom	extant	native	yes
USA	extant	vagrant
Uzbekistan	extant	native
Vietnam	extant	native

Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBA)

Country/Territory	IBA Name

Habitats & altitude

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Terrestrial	Plantations	suitable	breeding
Artificial/Terrestrial	Plantations	suitable	non-breeding
Forest	Boreal	suitable	breeding
Forest	Temperate	major	breeding
Forest	Temperate	major	non-breeding
Shrubland	Mediterranean-type Shrubby Vegetation	suitable	breeding
Shrubland	Mediterranean-type Shrubby Vegetation	suitable	non-breeding
Altitude		Occasional altitudinal limits

Utilisation

Purpose	Scale
Food - human	subsistence, national
Sport hunting/specimen collecting	subsistence, national

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Eurasian Woodcock Scolopax rusticola. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/eurasian-woodcock-scolopax-rusticola on 26/12/2024.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2024) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 26/12/2024.