Nest-site selection and seasonal habitat shifts of the enigmatic Eurasian woodcock across its Palaearctic breeding range revealed by open-source data

Abstract Breeding ecology remains poorly understood in many elusive species because conventional field methods rarely produce samples large enough to detect broad-scale ecological patterns. Here, we show that open-source online photographs can help overcome this limitation. Using 657 photographs representing 500 nests, we quantified breeding habitat and nest-site characteristics of the Eurasian woodcock (Scolopax rusticola) across its Palaearctic breeding range. We scored forest type, surroundin