Breeding habitat of a mysterious forest bird – the woodcock in the Swiss Prealps

The woodcock (Scolopax rusticola) is classified as vulnerable on the Red List of breeding bird species in Switzerland. In the past decades, the woodcock abandoned most breeding habitats in the lowlands and in the eastern part of Jura Mountains, and populations nowadays are restricted to areas in the Alps and the western parts of the Jura Mountains. The reasons for the decline are largely unknown. Moreover, there are no studies about breeding habitat use in eastern Switzerland. In this study we assessed the habitat use at a small scale in the forest reserve Amden (St. Gallen) in the eastern Prealps during the breeding season. To detect woodcock prescence we used a non-invasive method of samp…