Eurasian Woodcock

Scolopax rusticola

Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Scolopacidae
Presence in the Strait: Seasonal
Abundance: scarce
IUCN (global): LC · Least concern
In Spanish: Chocha perdiz

Photograph: valerkov, CC BY 4.0, vía Wikimedia Commons

Length: 33–35 cm
Wingspan: 55–65 cm
Weight: 280 g

Presence in the Strait

Scarce winter visitor to forests.

Identification

Robust, with finely barred, buffish lower body. Crown and nape covered with fine black bars at the rear. Long bill, short legs and rounded body. Flight rapid and twisting. Very difficult to see due to twilight habits and cryptic plumage that make it easily confused with dry, fallen leaves.

Movements

Peaks during postnuptial migration in 1st hf. November. Less obvious prenuptial migration takes place towards the end of March and beginning of April. Scolopacidae Agachadiza Chica Agachadiza Común Chocha Perdiz

Bioestrecho editorial text. Last revised: 8 September 2026.

Photographs from iNaturalist observations with the licence checked file by file. Those marked “Strait” were taken within the area; place and date are those of each observation.

Calendar in the Strait

50 %

Peak in January. Observations under CC0 or CC BY licences. The distribution also reflects observation effort.

Where it is seen

Open records from the atlas database, in cells of about 3.6 km. Opacity follows the square root of the count, and also reflects where people observe most.

See on the map

First open record: 4 August 1989
Latest record: 27 January 2024

The oldest and the most recent open observation in the extended area. A recent first observation does not mean the species is new: it means nobody had published it openly before.

Conservation

The catalogues, Andalusian and Spanish, are what binds; the Red Book assesses the Spanish population with IUCN criteria, and the global Red List is the context.

LCNTVUENCR

Andalusian Catalogue: Not included
Spanish Catalogue: Not included
Red Book of the Birds of Spain 2021: DD · Data deficient · breeding — DD · Data deficient · wintering or migrating
Global Red List (IUCN): LC · Least concern

Andalusian Catalogue: Junta de Andalucía, list of 24 April 2025. Spanish Catalogue: MITECO, table of 30 June 2025. Red Book: SEO/BirdLife, 2021 (Annex I). IUCN: via GBIF, 6 September 2026. Red Book and IUCN categories are assessments; catalogue categories are legal obligations.

Classification

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Scolopacidae
GBIF taxon key: 2481700

Sources

Distribution and calendar: Bioestrecho's own database, ingested from GBIF and OBIS
Photograph: valerkov, CC BY 4.0, vía Wikimedia Commons
Taxonomy: GBIF backbone, pending WoRMS for marine taxa
Editorial text: written by Bioestrecho
Last revised: 8 September 2026

Eurasian Woodcock

Presence in the Strait

Identification

Movements

Gallery