The Eurasian woodcock (Scolopax rusticola) is a mostly migratory wader (Charadriiformes) that is broadly distributed across the Palearctic. This species winters in or migrates through all European countries and is an important quarry species in many of them. Sustainable management of the species requires information regarding abundance and demographic parameters to be collected regularly. This is a complex task given that different phases of its annual life cycle occur in different countries and, due to the species' secretive behavior, Eurasian woodcock populations cannot be properly evaluated by common bird-census techniques. In Europe, woodcock hunters from different countries have joined in the Federation of Western Palearctic Woodcock Associations (FANBPO), collecting data on hunting activity that can be used to annually evaluate relative abundance and demographic parameters. To investigate variation in Eurasian woodcock relative abundance during and between hunting seasons, we fitted generalized additive mixed models (GAMMs) to data collected in France, Spain, and Portugal (Franco-Iberian region;2006-2007to 2015 to analyze the variation in the number of different Eurasian woodcock seen per hunting trip. For these countries and for Switzerland, Italy, Ireland, and Wales, we also analyzed demographic parameters (the ratios of female:male and juvenile:adult) from bagged birds. In the Franco-Iberian region the relative abundance during the autumn-winter period increased from September to the beginning of December, and remained high thereafter with a slight decrease until the end of February; in the last 10 years, relative abundance has remained stable during autumn migration and winter. The sex ratio remained stable in the Swiss-Franco-Iberian and Swiss-Italian regions, but the former had a higher proportion of females. The age ratio varied among hunting seasons and regions. This research is an example of the effective use of data collected through citizen science that aims to maintain a favorable conservation status of the Eurasian woodcock while allowing a rational use of its populations via sustainable and controlled hunting.

The phenology of migratory bird species is a crucial aspect of their biology that has far-reaching implications for wildlife management, particularly when these species are hunted as game. For this reason, many monitoring projects have investigated the presence of Western European bird species in diverse Palearctic regions using abundance indexes. Here, our aim was to define Woodcock’s presence in Italy during the post-nuptial migration, the wintering phase, and at the beginning of the pre-nuptial migration phase, using monitoring data collected between September and March for the period 2016 to 2021. The presence of Woodcock in Italy and other regions of the Mediterranean basin can be compared using an index, specifically the “Indice Cynégétique d’Abondance” (ICA) which corresponds to the number of different Woodcock flushed during a hunting trip. We modelled the abundance of Woodcock as a function of biotic (habitat type, vegetation) and abiotic (place, season, temperature, altitude) factors to assess the presence of Woodcock in Italy Our findings reveal that temperature and altitude have an inverse effect on the abundance index of Woodcock in Italy, while deciduous woodland is a preferred habitat for the species. We observe an increase in Woodcock’s presence from the end of September to late November, followed by a decrease in late January. Moreover, we have identified a significant rise in the ICA index during the latter part of February and early March, indicating the pre-nuptial migration period. Our study contributes significantly to our understanding of Woodcock migration phenology, particularly with respect to the management of the species in Italy and other Mediterranean basin states. Our results underscore the importance of long-term monitoring programs for evaluating key spatial population metrics such as presence and abundance, which are critical for sustainable hunting and effective conservation management of game species.