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woodcock migration

Ruffed Grouse Society & American Woodcock Society Continue Support for Eastern Woodcock Migration Study

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Animation provided by: Alex Fish, University of Maine

Studying woodcock migration with RGS & AWS funded GPS technology.

The Virginia Chapters of the Ruffed Grouse Society have provided the latest commitment of member support for an international collaborative research effort examining American Woodcock migration. The H.C. Edwards Chapter, the James River Chapter, and the Ruffed Grouse Society Virginia State Drummer Fund (SDF) provided support for purchasing three additional GPS transmitters for deployment by the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (VDGIF).

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Understanding Woodcock Migration – RGS

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Photo Credit | Eastern Woodcock Migration Research Cooperative

Researchers studying and working to understand the migration habits and tendencies of one remarkable bird.

One late afternoon last October, Alex Fish and I headed to a woodlot owned by the University of Maine, just a short drive from campus. The property is a few hundred acres, and was clearcut before being donated to the University. Now the forest holds a nice mix of aspen and other hardwoods with some scattered conifers and can be quite productive as a ruffed grouse cover. But with alder lowlands and a long stretch of river bottom that provide plenty of moist soils, this property is also a great cover for woodcock. This evening we were after woodcock.

Although it’s a cover I regularly hunt, our goal tonight was to catch birds for research. The property is relatively long and narrow with a single gated access road, which widens in a few places where logs were staged during the last harvest. We knew from experience that woodcock would often fly into these old log landings to roost at night. We set a series of mist nets in one of the old landings, and settled in to wait for dusk when woodcock would make their evening flights.

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Risk and Reward for the American Woodcock

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Risk and Reward for the American Woodcock: the Energy Balance of an Early Migrant in a Late-Winter Storm

By Andy Weik, RGS & AWS Regional Wildlife Biologist

Woodcock huddle together in Central Park, New York City following March 2017 snowstorm. Food stressed woodcock are at increased risk of starvation and predation. Photo by Thomas Schuchaskie, from Facebook March 15, 2017.
Woodcock huddle together in Central Park, New York City following March 2017 snowstorm. Food stressed woodcock are at increased risk of starvation and predation. Photo by Thomas Schuchaskie, from Facebook March 15, 2017.

In the snowy North, we look forward to the arrival of woodcock and red-winged blackbirds as the first signs of spring. Woodcock are among the first – if not THE first – ground-nesting birds to begin nesting. Woodcock really push the envelope as they migrate north from southern wintering grounds, moving into open ground along spring seeps, streams and south-facing slopes in search of earthworms and grubs as snow cover recedes. In years when winter segues smoothly into spring, the early-arriving woodcock is rewarded with sufficient food and mild weather to hatch its four-egg clutch within a month of arriving on the breeding range, before most of its predators have extra mouths of their own to feed.

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American Woodcock Activity Reports for February

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February Activity Reports

The daily and weekly historical maps may be viewed here: http://www.ruffedgrousesociety.org/Migration%20Maps%20-%20Feb%202016.

We’ve had more February reports to the system than any other recent February. A review of the comments provided with the reports for “firsts” or other interesting items indicates: on February 1, four males were reported peenting in southern Virginia; a woodcock was reported in Colorado on February 7, supported by photos and a published article from a similar sighting from 2015; a deceased bird was found in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor area on February 8; and on February 29 peenting and mating display flights were observed in northwest Ohio and 41 birds were counted in less than two hours just north of Indianapolis.

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Tracking Woodcock Migration Research

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The winter woodcock trapping season is complete with the last satellite transmitters (PTTs) deployed in February 2016. This winter the researchers deployed 28 transmitters in Louisiana and Texas.

It appears at least some of the transmitters deployed in the fall are sending locations including one that appears to have overwintered near Cape May, New Jersey.

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