Taxonomically, the species is placed in Order Charadriiformes , which includes gulls, oystercatchers, plovers, stilts, curlews, sandpipers, snipe, phalaropes and others. Within this large order, the woodcock belongs to Family Scolopacidae , a group of snipe and sandpipers with more than 80 species distributed over most of the world. The Old World bird resembles its American counterpart and has a similar life history, but it's larger and almost twice as heavy. Biology A timberdoodle's plumage is an overall mottled russet and brown. The short tail is a combination of brick-red and black, tipped with gray.
Wings are short and bluntly rounded.
Weights for both sexes vary according to time of year. A woodcock's bill is long and thin. Sensitive nerve endings in the lower third of the bill help a woodcock locate earthworms. A special bone-muscle arrangement lets the bird open the tip of its upper bill, or mandible, while it's underground. The long tongue and the underside of the mandible are both rough-surfaced to grasp and pull slippery prey out of the ground.