SUN JOURNAL • March 4, 2023
A study of the woodcock’s migration habits and patterns is turning up some interesting data. According to the study’s website: “Many species of North American birds (37%) are declining and migratory birds are declining at faster rates than many non-migratory bird species. The American Woodcock is a migratory forest bird that has experienced population wide long-term declines of 0.8% per year, over the past 50 years.” UMaine’s woodcock study has tagged 568 woodcock with tracking transmitters, that have sent back 32,000 locations of these migrating birds. The central questions: 1) When do woodcock start their migration? 2) How long does the migration take? 3) What is the survival rate during migration? 4) Where are the stopover sites? There is revealing behavioral data on the study’s website: www.woodcockmigration.org. ~ V. Paul Reynolds