American Woodcock

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American Woodcock

• Life History and
• Habitat Management

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Description Females 215 g Males 174
g Bill 60-75 mm (Prehensile tip) lt 68
mm Male gt68 mm Female Large Field of View
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Poor Survey for Woodcock
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Singing Ground Survey
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Singing Ground Survey

• Woodcock declining 2.5 per year since 1968

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Migration Some may over-winter Spring Arrive
Court (Feb) Peak 40-50 min 9-13
Courtship Flights Fall Migration October
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Males High affinity for singing grounds among
years. 30 recapture on site 95 within 1-5
km High Mortality Females Mate several times
in 2-3 weeks
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Nesting High nest fidelity Shallow nest
depression Base of tree or shrub
Average 3.8 to 3.9 eggs/clutch Renest
(3.0 eggs/clutch)
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Chicks Precocial Require maternal foods for 7
days Periodic brooding 15-20 days Invertebrates
Fly 18 days
50-90- diet
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Home Range lt 50 acres (42 84 acres) 36 acres
saplings 73 acres older stands
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Breeding Habitat Singing Grounds Openings lt
10-m diameter single male gt10-m diameter
multiple males Tall surrounding vegetation is bad
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Breeding Habitat Nesting Young, second growth
hardwood stands lt 150 m from singing
ground 20,000 stems/acre (PA) (8,500 Alabama
6,100 New York)
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Breeding Habitat Brood Rearing Dense, hardwood
cover Good soil (earthworms) Good overhead
cover Limited ground cover
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Breeding Habitat Nocturnal Habitat Clearcuts A
bandoned Ag. Fields Pastures Intermediate
Vegetative Cover

• Key

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Basics of Habitat ManagementEarly Successional
Habitats
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Four Key Habitat Types

• Daytime Feeding Cover moist, rich
  soils invertebrates

• Young second growth nesting and broods

• Small clearings singing

• Grasslands, scrub-shrub roosting

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Daytime Feeding Cover

• 10 year max. life for alder cover

• Clear cut 70 foot (21 m) wide strips

• Uncut strips 280 feet (85 m) between cuts

• Cut across stream or wetland

• Cut next to old strips 4-5 years 20 years

• gt20 years old, cut every 2 years 10 years

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Nest and Brood Habitat
Daytime feeding cover recipe Drier sites Cut
Back Border around fields
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Singing Grounds
Openings near feeding cover Slash Removal on
Parts 2-3 100 sq. foot openings gt 0.5 acre
openings lt 0.5 acres, border cut Cut 1 or 2
clearings per year
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Roost Sites
3 acre fields Abandoned ag fields, scrub-shrub,
pastures (Early successional habitats) 1 field/
100 acres Mow or burn every 2-3 years Cut Back
Border
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Plantings Alder Apple Arrowwood
Aspen Dogwoods Black Haw Hawthorn Hazelnut
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Other Habitat Measures
Small clumps short conifers Limited understory
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Juxtaposition