| | Accession Number | 5004908 |
| | Title | Survival of American Woodcock (Scolopax minor) during fall migration |
| | Project Description | The American woodcock (Scolopax minor) is a popular game bird in much of eastern North |
| | America (U.S. Department of the Interior USDI 1990). In several states it is the most important |
| | migratory game bird in terms of total harvest (USDI 1990). The woodcock population has declined |
| | between 1968-2000 at an annual rate of 2.3% in the Eastern region and 1.6% in the Central region |
| | (Kelley 2000). Most estimates of annual survival of woodcock were based on analysis of band |
| | recoveries (Sheldon 1956, Martin et al. 1969, Krohn et al. 1974, Dwyer and Nichols 1982, Dwyer |
| | et al. 1988). Dwyer and Nichols (1982) estimated annual survival of woodcock banded in the |
| | Eastern region to be 0.354 for the period 1967-74. Using this annual estimate and the composite |
| | estimate from the 3 telemetry studies of 0.471, Longcore et al.(1996) estimated that survival |
| | during the fall hunting and migration period would have to be 0.853 if the annual survival estimate |
| | is correct. It seems unreasonable to believe that survival during hunting and migration would be |
| | higher than during the spring and winter periods. Scientists for USGS are currently analyzing data |
| | to estimate survival of woodcock during the fall hunting period. However, estimates for the |
| | migration period, a period when substantial mortality could occur are unknown. Because the cost |
| | of banding adequate samples of woodcock is prohibitive, few woodcock are banded annually. The |
| | annual migration of woodcock from the breeding grounds to their wintering areas has been of |
| | interest to biologists and hunters. Migration corridors along the Atlantic coast, such as, Cape |
| | May, NJ and Cape Charles, VA are well known. Most information about migration during fall is |
| | based on recovery of bands and hunters observations of large groups of flight birds in covers that |
| | previously held few birds. There is little specific information to indicate the speed of migration and |
| | Mendall and Aldous (1943) described it as leisurely. Recovery of locally banded birds provided |
| | some evidence of how long local birds remain on breeding areas, but only 2 studies (Coon et al |
| | 1976 and Sepik and Derleth 1993) used radio telemetry to determine when woodcock began |
| | migration, but samples sizes were small. Evidence of differential migration chronology by age and |
| | sex has been supported (Williams 1969 and Gregg 1984) and not supported (Sepik and Derleth |
| | 1993), but there are no estimates of mortality during this critical period. Except for information |
| | from band recoveries, there are no data on how long migration takes. We will use telemetry to |
| | determine how long local birds remain on breeding areas, relate weather variables to the timing of |
| | migration, and estimate survival of woodcock during migration from the Northeast to the |
| | mid-Atlantic states. |
| | Keywords | american woodcock, maine, migration, migratory birds, new jersey, scolopax minor, species |
| | conservation, survival, telemetry, virginia, |
| | Principal | Daniel G McAuley, USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center: dan_mcauley@usgs.gov; Michael |
| | Investigators | Haramis, USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center: mike_haramis@usgs.gov; Jerry R Longcore, |
| | USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center: jerry_longcore@usgs.gov; Bradford Allen, Maine |
| | Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife: brad.allen@state.me.us; |
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