Eurasian woodcock (Scolopax rusticola) in intensively managed Central European forests use large home ranges with diverse habitats

Modern management of Europe's forests should strive for a delicate balance between efficient production, which is their primary purpose, and forest management practices that conserve and support biodiversity. This requires detailed knowledge of the ecology of forest-dwelling species, including their site-specific behavior and habitat preferences. One such species is the Eurasian woodcock (Scolopax rusticola), an important game bird that breeds throughout the Palearctic region. Despite its importance, our knowledge of woodcock ecology is limited, and collecting reliable data is challenging due to the species' cryptic behavior. Here, we used high-precision GPS-GSM telemetry to determine home range size and to investigate habitat selection in male Eurasian woodcocks inhabiting Central European forests. Using Bayesian mixed-effects models corrected for spatial autocorrelation, we compared several habitat characteristics (including dominant tree and herb species) of sites where woodcocks occurred with randomly selected sites within their home ranges. Our results show that woodcock in Central Europe move over much larger home ranges during the breeding season (median 7.26 km²) than previously reported in other parts of their breeding range, although they regularly use only small part of this large area (median 1.09 km²). Within their home range, woodcocks used a wide range of habitats, including intensively managed conifer monocultures, but preferred deciduous forests, particularly those dominated by European white birch (Betula pendula). Specifically, 24 % of the plots with woodcock were dominated by birch, compared to only 12 % of the randomly selected plots. Importantly, regardless of dominant tree species, woodcocks preferred sites with dense vegetation cover, but good terrain traversability. During the day, woodcocks preferred sites with dense canopy cover, while at night they preferred more open areas. However, in contrast to previously published results elsewhere, these open areas were more likely to be sparse forest (73%) than grasslands or non-forest cropland (24%), and were characterized by less continuous canopy cover, with a median of only 40%. Our study highlights the importance of specific microhabitats, such as sites with dominant representation of commercially non-target broadleaved species (birch), or sites with sparse canopy cover but denser understorey vegetation. Appropriate management practices that promote such specific microhabitats would