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Mid-Atlantic

Viral Woodcock in Bryant Park Highlights a Serious Conservation Story Beneath the Dance Moves

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American woodcock in Bryant Park; Rhododendrites via Wikimedia Commons A small, round-bodied bird with a long bill and a signature bobbing strut has captured the attention of millions this week as videos of an American woodcock “dancing” in New York City’s Bryant Park spread rapidly across social media. While the bird’s quirky movement has made it an overnight celebrity, wildlife experts note this moment offers something more meaningful: a rare glimpse into the demanding journey of spring migration. Each year, American woodcock travel hundreds of miles from their wintering grounds in the southern U.S. to breeding habitat across the Northeast and Upper Midwest....

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Know Your Cover: Lesser-Known Woodcock Covers Along the Atlantic Coastal Flyway 

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by Ben Larson, Mid-Atlantic Forest Conservation Director  The Atlantic coastal flyway includes some of the most densely-populated and highly-disturbed landscapes in the county, but it’s also a critical migratory pathway for woodcock. Along the Atlantic coastal plain, the American Woodcock Conservation Plan emphasizes that “stopover habitats available as feeding covers are critically important to migrating woodcock.”  With the region’s historic conversion of forests to farms and cities – and the more recent reduction in forest management – woodcock are finding and using whatever covers they can, which we’re identifying with migration data and partners. We’re getting innovative, too, creating habitats in new...

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Chapter Spotlight – Central New York

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by Nate Kennedy, RGS & AWS Northeast Regional Engagement Coordinator In the Northeast, we have chapters with lengthy and impactful histories with chapters named for incredible RGS & AWS members like Brian Hays and Russ and Carole Dyer, others named for upland writers like William Harnden Foster and Burton Spiller and, even, chapters named for the historic regions they work to steward. Central New York’s been referred to as “the Chapter that others should aspire to become” and their annual banquet’s been called the premier sporting event of the area. They’ve got a past to be proud of and are still going...

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RGS & AWS Welcomes Luvara as Mid-Atlantic Engagement Coordinator

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Gabe Luvara has accepted the position of engagement coordinator for RGS & AWS in the Mid-Atlantic region. Luvara brings a lifelong passion for the outdoors and conservation to his role. Growing up in West Virginia with rabbit dogs and the good fortune of an uncle who owned a large dairy farm, he developed an early love for upland hunting. He spent his youth chasing rabbits as well as the occasional ruffed grouse and bobwhite quail, and building a deep connection to wild places alongside his family. As an adult, Luvara transitioned into bird dog training and upland hunting, continuing to spend as...

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A Story of Succession – Restoring 43 Acres at Bald Eagle State Park in Pennsylvania

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Bald Eagle State Park’s 1,730-acre lake is a recreational oasis, nestled in the divide between the plateau and the ridge and valley regions of Pennsylvania. It’s a short drive off route 80, yet separated by a ridge that reduces the interstate noise. Although the lake is the central feature, the surrounding bottomlands holds one of our favorite little game birds, the American woodcock. The valley that’s currently occupied by the lake was once like most of the valleys in central Pennsylvania – farmland. The construction of the lake flooded most of the farms, but those on the high grounds remained above...

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Improving Woodcock and Quail Habitat on the Delmarva Peninsula and in Southern Maryland

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Developing new collaborations in the Atlantic Flyway  by Ben Larson, Mid-Atlantic Forest Conservation Director  During my time at RGS & AWS, I’ve focused on heavily forested parts of the Mid-Atlantic, including northern Pennsylvania, western Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia. However, for the last year and a half, I’ve started to develop partnerships and projects in the partly forested parts of the region, particularly the Delmarva Peninsula (an abbreviation of Delaware, Maryland and Virginia) and southern Maryland (southeast of Washington, D.C.).  The reason is simple: for migrating woodcock, the Delmarva Peninsula and southern Maryland provide critical stopover habitats along the Atlantic Flyway. The American...

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