Real snipe
| Real snipe | ||||||||||||
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Canada godwit ( Scolopax minor ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Scolopax | ||||||||||||
| Linnaeus , 1758 |
The real snipe ( Scolopax ), also called woodcock , is a genus from the family of the snipe bird . Eight species are counted to the genus, of which only the Eurasian woodcock and the Canadian godwit are widespread. The other six species are restricted to Japan , New Guinea , the Philippines, and Indonesia. The closest relatives of the woodcock are the common snipe ( Gallinago ).
features
The woodcock species are all very similar to one another. They have long, thin beaks, stocky bodies, and brownish and black plumage that provides good camouflage. The eyes are on the sides of the head, which gives them a 360 ° view. Unlike most other bird species, the tip of their upper beak is flexible.
Habitat and way of life
Woodcock are woodland dwellers. They go in search of food in the evening or at night and search the ground for invertebrates with their long beaks. Their way of life and their inconspicuous plumage make it difficult to spot them in their resting places during the day. During the reproductive phase woodcock show conspicuous courtship flights, which they usually perform at dusk or dawn.
Woodcock and human
Woodcock are a popular game. Some island species, such as the Amami woodcock ( Scolopax mira ) and the Obischnepfe ( Scolopax rochussenii ), have become rare due to overhunting and habitat loss. The woodcock's blood feathers are popular with artists who use them to make brush tips. Blood feathers are newly grown feathers whose keels are still supplied with blood.
Species and their distribution
- Woodcock ( S. rusticola ) Distribution: Western Europe to Japan
- Amami woodcock ( S. mira ) Distribution: Nansei Islands
- New Guinea Woodcock ( S. rosenbergii ) Distribution: New Guinea
- Malaycock ( S. saturata ) Distribution: Sumatra and Java
- Celebes godwit ( S. celebensis ) Distribution: Sulawesi
- Bukidnon snipe ( S. bukidnonensis ) Distribution: Luzon and Mindanao, Philippines
- Obischnepfe ( S. rochussenii ) Distribution: Obi and Bacan in the northern Moluccas
- Canadian godwit ( S. minor ) Distribution: North America
Fossil evidence
A number of woodcock species are extinct and are only known from fossil or subfossil bone material. Due to their close relationship with the common snipe, the woodcock represent a relatively young genus of birds, even if the order of the plover-like to which they belong has a very primitive lineage. The genera Gallinago and Scolopax probably split off from each other 10.5 million years ago in the Late Miocene.
The following fossil species are known:
- Scolopax baranensis (fossil, early Pliocene, Hungary; a noun nudum )
- Scolopax carmesinae (fossil, early and middle Pliocene, Menorca, Mediterranean)
- Scolopax hutchensi (fossil, late Pliocene to early Pleistocene, Florida, USA)
- Puerto Rican woodcock ( Scolopax anthonyi ) (Young Pleistocene to Early Holocene, Puerto Rico)
- Scholopax brachycarpa (subfossil, Holocene, Hispaniola)
literature
- Peter Hayman, John Marchant, Tony Prater: Shorebirds: an identification guide to the waders of the world . Houghton Mifflin, Boston 1986, ISBN 0-395-60237-8 .
- Robert S. Kennedy, Timothy H. Fisher, Simon CB Harrap, Arvin C. Diesmos, Arturo S. Manamtam: A new species of woodcock from the Philippines and a re-evaluation of other Asian / Papuasian woodcock. In: Forktail, Volume 17, No. 1, 2001, pp. 1–12 ( PDF full text ).
- Colin Laurie McKelvie: Woodcock and Snipe: Conservation and Sport . Swan Hill, 1993.
- H. Mousley: The earliest (1805) unpublished drawings of the flexibility of the upper mandible of the woodcock's bill. In: Auk, Volume 51, No. 3, 1934, pp. 297–301 ( PDF full text ).
- Gavin H. Thomas, Matthew A. Wills, Tamás Székely: A supertree approach to shorebird phylogeny. In: BMC Evol. Biol., Volume 4, No. 28, 2004, doi : 10.1186 / 1471-2148-4-28 ( PDF full text ).
