While some uplanders may view the diminutive timberdoodle as an afterthought or an ancillary addition to the bird bag, many hunters revere the American woodcock as a staple component in the fabric of their upland hunting aesthetic. Physiologically and behaviorally speaking, the woodcock is indeed a strange creature, with its large dark eyes, long, tensile bill, bizarre worm-seeking wobble, and elaborate sky dance courtship displays. As a fly-by-night, ghost of the timber, the woodcock can be tricky to consistently pattern but hard not to admire as a worthy upland quarry. Perhaps it’s this very mystique that allures so many of us to become so fond of this delicate, little russet-bellied bird.

Like many other game bird species across North America, woodcock have been experiencing population declines across their entire range from a variety of factors over the last 50 years. Research and surveillance through singing ground surveys and banding programs has led the way for scientists and wildlife managers to monitor woodcock, but very little was known about the ecology and migration patterns until just recently.

Conservation Collaboration

In 2015, Erik Blomberg, associate professor of wildlife population ecology at the University of Maine, attended a regional meeting of biologists that was focused on ruffed grouse research. Researchers from Arkansas presented information on a GPS satellite study of woodcock, which was noted to be one of the first applications of a detailed GPS-tracker study, technology that had just become available at the small scale for a woodcock, and it really piqued his interest.

“They showed some very compelling data they had obtained in a very short amount of time,” Blomberg stated. “Information that as we’ve been using banding records and radio telemetry, we could never have even come close to capturing. There was a consensus and agreement in the room for the value of replicating a similar project in the eastern portion of the woodcock range.”

Blomberg then connected with the Ruffed Grouse Society for their help in initial funding support and they paid for the first year of transmitters for the eastern study in 2017. He then brought this information to the Atlantic flyway conference and presented his preliminary results and pitched the idea of a large-scale survey, and the Eastern Woodcock Migration Research Collaborative was born. 2018 marked the first year of partnership at which time birds were marked in a few northeastern states, as well as Quebec. Now, several years into the cooperative, a total of 13 state wildlife agencies and three Canadian provinces have joined and have marked close to 600 birds.

Cooperators are conducting field work to interact with woodcock all along their eastern range at different times of their migration cycle. Woodcock are captured in either mist nets or are hand-netted at night with a light or infrared spotting scope. Data is collected from each bird including age, sex, weight, and other physical measurements, along with feather and blood samples for genetic analysis. Each bird receives a federal leg band and a GPS tracking unit before being safely returned to the wild. The highly accurate transmitters then begin sending locations every third day during the migration and each unit is designed with a set battery life and to stay on the bird for about one year before falling off.

Goals of the Study

The major overarching goal of the study is to better understand woodcock migration. In particular, what can be learned about the ecology of woodcock migration and how any number of factors play into how woodcock are managed and conserved. Blomberg mentioned early on the research was focused on the timing of migration, with questions including: when are the birds departing, when are they arriving, how far are they flying, how long are they stopping over, where are those important stopovers, how does weather factor in, and how does migration align with hunting seasons?

Another area of interest for the study involves understanding how woodcock use habitat and how their habitat relationships change throughout the full annual cycle. Researchers are seeking to find out whether woodcock use different types of habitat during their migration and in their wintering and breeding grounds and how this information can become useful for managing woodcock and their habitat.

Blomberg added a third point of interest for the study, which is looking at population structure and connectivity between the two woodcock population management units. For the most part, two separate populations of American woodcock have been recognized: the western/central population that inhabits the majority of the Mississippi flyway and the eastern population along the Eastern Seaboard, with the spine of the Appalachian Mountains dividing the two groups. And for decades this notion was supported by banding information although some crossover has been observed. Blomberg shared that about 30 percent of their marked birds have crossed this management boundary.

“We know birds fly between the management zones,” he said, “but we want to understand if that management structure is still useful and how does it actually shape the function of the population, which is what we hope to get at with the genetic data.”

He added this information is most important to woodcock hunters because currently the harvest management strategies are separate between the two regions and the two distinct population trends are monitored and used for establishing separate hunting regulations. One of the biggest implications from the findings of this program could be whether or not the two regions will begin to manage their populations differently.

Findings of the Study

Blomberg mentioned they have collected an abundance of data and have a lot to work with but there are some additional considerations for the future of the cooperative, along with one thing in particular he is excited about.

“We’ve been collecting blood and feather samples from all of these birds and that is going to allow us to look at their genetic structure,” he added. “This will show us how functionally different woodcock are and will help both researchers and managers in how we need to treat these different populations differently.”

In addition to answering new questions, this program has also provided helpful corroboration to the singing ground surveys that wildlife managers have been using for decades to index population trends. Tracked birds are now able to more accurately validate the timing of migration and support the information collected during the spring counts.

Blomberg added a few other unique and noteworthy points gathered from the research.

“Across their range, woodcock are much more diverse in their behaviors and the way they migrate that you might expect,” he said. “For example, you can catch two birds in the same place on the same night and they will end up 1,000 miles away from each other after they migrate. We just had two birds tagged in southern Florida; one went to Ontario and the other went to Cape Brenton Island.”

He explained how it’s not just where the birds go, but also how they go there, how long they take to get there, and how many stops they make along the way. He suggests this diversity and ability to adapt to changes speaks to the resiliency of the species amidst a myriad of limiting factors such as habitat loss.

For the Wonder of Woodcock

As an academically-run research study, the program is led in large part by state wildlife agencies (who pull funds from the Pittman-Robertson Act), along with several partnering non-governmental organizations to purchase transmitters and fund the ongoing research.

At this time, most of the states that have incentive to be involved in this study are already participating, but Blomberg suggests reaching out to your state’s upland game bird biologist to learn more about what’s happening in your state. He also mentions how joining and contributing to the Ruffed Grouse Society is one of the easiest and surest ways to show your support for woodcock conservation through this project specifically and overall throughout their range.

For more information about the study, to explore the research, to view the list of cooperators, and to track the woodcock migration in real-time, head to woodcockmigration.org