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Woodcock Ecology

Radio Tracking Woodcock Chicks

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woodcock research

Unique study finds downed logs used extensively for predator cover before green up Story by Mark Herwig A first-of-its-kind study by the University of Minnesota-Duluth on woodcock chicks has found pre-flight birds made frequent use of downed logs and large branches to avoid predators before forest green up. Researchers made these discoveries using radio transmitters on woodcock chicks ages two days old and up. Birds under two days could not bear the transmitter’s weight. Lotek NTQ2-3-2 transmitters were used for the woodcock hatchlings, a device that weighs only 0.67 grams, but costs $185. Once the chicks grow a bit, a thin elastic thread that holds...

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Woodcock as a Southern Bird

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by Tom Keer A few winters ago, Quebec’s Don Keddy, a field trialer and grouse and woodcock hunter, had enough. The long, gray, Canadian winters are hard on bird doggers. To break his cabin fever, Keddy packed up his truck and road-tripped his way to Georgia. For him, the balmy weather would be a nice change of pace. Equally, trading the hawthorn tines and thick alder runs for soft grasses would change attitudes, certainly for him, but more importantly, for his dogs. Along the way, Keddy found a trend that has been forming for a long time. The ruffed grouse is...

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Mid-Winter Woodcock Nesting

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by Gary G. Youngblood  In late February of 2019, I was driving west on Interstate-64 with my young English setter Patches. We were traveling to West Virginia to grouse hunt the last couple of days of the season. My daughter Jody called me in-transit. “Daddy, you aren’t going to believe this … Parker just found a quail egg in the woods,” she said.  “Jody, it’s way too early for quail to be nesting and laying eggs. It’s probably a woodcock egg. That’s the only ground-nesting bird I know that would be laying here in February. Yep, I’ll bet Parker found a woodcock...

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Beyond The Bellwether of Our Forests – RGS

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Photo Credit | Steve Oehlenschlager While the perils and challenges faced by ruffed grouse and American woodcock may be familiar to our conservation-minded members, the continental and even global significance of these issues may not be fully recognized. In a study published by the journal Science, it was noted that wild bird populations have declined by nearly 30% since 1970 in the continental U.S. and Canada. Sadly, we know these declines to have effected ruffed grouse and American woodcock too. Yet the ruffed grouse and woodcock are not alone in their struggles and we are not alone in our concerns...

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RGS & AWS Northeast Forest Conservation Update: Part 1

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A primer for those curious about ecological issues impacting the Northeastern Region of the U.S.

By Todd Waldron, Northeast Forest Conservation Director

Photo by Todd Waldron

February 22, 2021 – If you and your dog have been covering countless miles through New England’s autumn woods and have only been flushing a fraction of the birds that you used to see – there is a reason for it.

[Read more…] about RGS & AWS Northeast Forest Conservation Update: Part 1

Modern Carnivore Podcast Features RGS & AWS

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Join Mark Norquist, host of the Modern Carnivore Podcast, for an interview with RGS & AWS President and CEO, Ben Jones. LISTEN | Modern Carnivore Podcast – Episode #15 About The Episode | Modern Carnivore “Just days before the pandemic required our country to close down I was able to sit down with Ben Jones who is the President and CEO of two hunting conservation organizations: The Ruffed Grouse Society and the American Woodcock Society. We were at Pheasant Fest which is the annual meeting of the organization Pheasants Forever, and great conservation partner of both Ben’s organizations and Modern Carnivore. We talk...

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