POPULATION ABUNDANCE AND HUNTING OF THE EURASIAN WOODCOCK

Abstract

Eurasian woodcock (Scolopax rusticola) is a migratory bird of the family Scolopacidea, widely distributed throughout Eurasia. In Lithuania, the woodcock is one of the game birds, but the population dynamics of these birds and the ecological factors influencing them have not yet been studied in detail in Lithuania. The aim of the study was to assess the changes in the population size and the impact of hunting on the population size in the Tulkiaragė training hunting area unit (MMPV) and the Kintai-Svencelė professional hunting area unit (Kintai-Svencela PMPV). In the period from 2023 to 2024 in the period from May to June, at the counting sites (20 sites in the Tulkiarage MMPV, 30 sites in the Kintai-Svencela PMPU), the individuals of woodcocks were counted by the point counting method. The data on hunted woodcocks were obtained from the game resource utilisation report from the Šilutė regional unit of the State Enterprise. The surveys showed that the population of woodcock in the Tulkiaragė MMPV has not decreased over the last two years and has remained the same. In contrast, the population of woodcocks in the Kintai-Svencelė MMPV has increased by 11%. The analysis of the hunting data shows that the hunting of woodcocks is not intensive and there is no threat to their population. The activity of woodcocks varies depending on the time of day, with the lowest activity recorded in the morning and the highest in the evening from 18:00 to 21:00. The majority of woodcocks were found to inhabit wet biotopes, with the highest numbers found in Lcl, Pbn, Pcn, Pdn sites. The study found that the concentration of woodcocks was higher in clear cuts and forest areas that were closer to the understorey or more fertile grasslands. This could be due to the greater availability of food in meadows and glades.