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Woodcock Ecology

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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Severe East Coast Winter Weather Results in Woodcock Die-offs

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The Cape May Peninsula in New Jersey has long been known as an important migratory stopover site for a myriad of birds in the Atlantic Flyway, including American woodcock. A recent bout of extreme weather on the East Coast led to the death of more than 170 woodcock at Cape May Point. The tragic event serves as a stark reminder of the fragile balance these birds maintain. A Perfect Storm Cape May Average Temperature for the Month of January 2026  The daily range of reported temperatures (gray bars) and 24-hour highs (red ticks) and lows (blue ticks), placed over the daily average high (faint...

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The Importance of the Harvest Information Program

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Woodcock hunters should be aware of this essential certification. By Nathan Ratchford | Ducks Unlimited Conservation Communications Coordinator  Woodcock season is nearly upon us. As you gear up for fall days in your favorite aspen covers, one of the most important and exciting steps is purchasing your hunting license. Whether you’re doing so online or at your local sporting goods store, there’s one crucial task for woodcock hunters: answering the Harvest Information Program (HIP) questions. What’s the purpose of these questions, and how do they contribute to migratory bird management? HIP is cooperatively managed by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) and...

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How to Age And Sex American Woodcock

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by Stefan Nelson | RGS & AWS Forest Wildlife Specialist and Sam Lau | RGS & AWS Integrated Habitat Biologist Three Ways to Determine Woodcock Gender There are several ways to determine the sex of an American woodcock, although these methods should only be used on birds at least one month old or older. For the most accurate determination of sex, it’s best to use a combination of the methods below as individual methods may sometimes be unreliable. It’s also good to remember that females are typically larger than males. Two features on the wing can be used to help determine the sex…

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Two-Season Birds

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by Greg Hoch Springtime “I know the woodcock as a harbinger of spring, more cheering to me than the most mellifluous thrush.” Charles Fergus, “A Hunter’s Book of Days” Spring is the season for vibrantly colored warblers, orioles, buntings, meadowlarks and grosbeaks to pour into woods, fields and backyards, singing their hearts out from branch and fencepost. Mallards, green-winged teal and wood ducks dot wetlands. For someone with a casual interest in the natural world, it’s hard to miss these signs of spring. In contrast, woodcock are dappled brown birds that spend much of their lives well-camouflaged in dappled brown leaf litter. The woodcock…

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