The international scientific journal "Current Zoology" has published and made available online the article concerning the work of satellite telemetry on the woodcock. The project began in 2009 with the first woodcock marked in Veneto and paved the way for this research, which was then continued in Italy with teal and cesena. The study is titled "Inter-individual variation and consistency of migratory behavior in the Eurasian woodcock" (authors: Alessandro Tedeschi, Michele Sorrenti, Michele Bottazzo, Mario Spagnesi, Ibon Telletxea, Ruben Ibànez, Nicola Tormen, Federico De Pascalis, Laura Guidolin, Diego Rubolini). The publication summarizes all the work carried out within the Scolopax Overland project since 2010 in collaboration between the association Friends of Scolopax and Federcaccia Avifauna Migratoria Office, with the direction of Lorenzo Carnacina, the contribution of the Veneto Region, the University of Padua and the Spanish researchers who have carried out similar studies.
The overall data collection of woodcocks tracked with the satellite device it was analyzed by Professor Diego Rubolini, of the University of Milan, who studied the variations of migratory behavior between different individuals and between the same subjects in repeated journeys. This study showed how woodcocks behave during the pre and post wedding migration, when they leave, which routes they follow, which factors are most important in determining the progress of the journey to and from the breeding sites and to what extent woodcocks vary their migration strategy from one year to the next.
The results show that the reproductive area of wintering subjects in Italy is mainly concentrated in Central Russia, with subjects also coming from areas of central-southern Siberia and partly from central-western Europe. Furthermore, it has been verified that woodcocks tend to repeat the same paths during migration, but that they do not necessarily begin pre-nuptial migration in the same periods between one year and the next. The data collected contributed to the information that FACE provided to the European Commission for updating the KCs, which suggest the beginning of the pre-nuptial migration of the species in February. In order to better define the timing of migration in Italy, the project will continue marking with satellite transmitters new subjects, captured during the autumn migration or the beginning of wintering.
The original version of the article can be freely downloaded at the following address: https://doi.org/10.1093/cz/zoz038. Federcaccia and Amici di Scolopax are working on the Italian translation, which will be available shortly. Any requests can be addressed to the secretariat of the Migratory Birdlife Office ([email protected]). Friends of Scolopax and Federcaccia thank all those who believed in this project and contributed to the success of the study (ongoing), in particular the Veneto Region, Veneto Agriculture, University of Padua and University of Milan, all the sponsors of the transmitters and all the volunteers who passionately identified the areas and supported the capture operations.