Woodcock bill length..... (1 Viewer)

[KenM]

A colleague phoned me on Friday to ask ''if I'd like ''sustained'' views of a Woodcock?''..to which I replied ''yes of course''. The bird had collided with a building in docklands, London, presumably on the Thursday night.

This was the first time that I had such close views..a fantastic bird!..however I was struck by the ''apparant'' small bill..being circa only 20% of the total length..would have expected a longer bill?

cheers

 

[Adam W]

You do occasionally get short billed birds,I've seen pictures of ones with bills quite bit shorter than that too.

 

[fugl]

According to various sources, Woodcock bill length varies between 6-8 cm. Looks from the photo that the bill of your bird makes the lower end of the range fairly comfortably.