Migration update archive
Update 17 June 2022. As of June 15th, all of our females have switched to a weekly schedule. This marks the end of active data collection for this spring. This season our collaborators have tagged 30 birds, which have recorded over 54,000 miles / 87,000 kilometers of migratory movements. These birds have laid 11 nests across 7 states and provinces which have been checked and confirmed by collaborators.
Many of these tags will continue to collect weekly locations throughout this summer and transmit those locations to Argos roughly once per month. They should be almost out of battery by the end of August, at which point they will go dormant. We've programmed them to resume collecting locations on December 18th so that we can determine if they've returned to their wintering locations (measuring site fidelity). We expect the last of this spring's transmitters to run out of battery in January 2023.
We'll have a detailed report of the data collected this spring, and preliminary results from the analyses that we're conducting using this data, when we release the latest EWMRC annual report in late summer or early fall. Until then, thank you to all collaborators who have tagged birds and checked nests this season!
Update 3 June 2022. One new migratory movement was reported this week by AL-2022-17, which has spent the last month flying from Michigan to Manitoba. This makes it the second bird in project history to enter the province (the first to do so was AL-2020-03). Based on the late timing this may be a post-nesting dispersal movement, in which case we'd expect this hen to attempt to nest again shortly.
Our collaborators in New York and New Brunswick also reported two new nests this week; thank you Thomas Cunningham and Larissa Simulik!
Update 26 May 2022. This week we saw a few short ranging movements in Maine and New York, most likely in response to failed breeding attempts. Most woodcock movements we see at this point are likely to be short ranging or dispersal events which occur infrequently during the summer. To better record these events while still conserving battery life, our male transmitters will shift to a one-location-per-week schedule starting tomorrow. This will result in a broadcast once every ~3 weeks.
Update 18 May 2022. Nesting season is in full swing, and this week we have two new confirmed nests (Maine and New Brunswick) as well as 3 more suspected nests in Nova Scotia and Quebec. This includes a suspected nest from NC-2022-37 near Saint-Stanislas Quebec, which is the northernmost evidence of nesting that we've observed during the project and is outside of the known breeding range of American Woodcock as delineated by the Quebec Breeding Bird Atlas (thank you Mat Tetreault for looking this up!). Thank you to Bruce Pollard and Larissa Simulik, both of whom made long treks to check on these nests.
Update 9 May 2022. This week brought quite a few ranging movements, as is typical in late spring along the northern edge of the woodcock's range. We have one new migratory initiation from VA-2022-100, which left its wintering in coastal Virginia to visit scenic Ontario. We also have one new suspected nest and 7 new deployments from our collaborators in the New York DEC.
Update 2 May 2022. As migration for other birds starts to pick up, another spring woodcock migration is starting to trickle to a close. We have only one major movement to report this week (AL-2022-20), although a few birds on the northern extent of the woodcock's range are still making ranging movements. We'll still have a few more tag deployments this summer thanks to the New York DEC and SUNY Brockport, which have begun a breeding season study of woodcock in their state. Congrats to them on their first tag deployment last week!
Update 25 April 2022. Birds are starting to find their breeding ranges throughout the northern extent of their range. We now have birds that seem to be settling into home ranges as far east as Nova Scotia and as far west as Minnesota. This week we also saw rare documentation of stopover site fidelity as PA-2021-39 migrated north through Pennsylvania on its way to Quebec.
Update 16 April 2022. Lots of nesting news this week. Our collaborators at the University of Rhode Island confirmed a new nest location last Monday at Rhode Island's largest gasoline port. Another nest is suspected in Alabama (QUE-2021-25), although its location on private land will likely make it difficult to confirm. Virginia DWR has also gotten reports of an early brood in central Virginia. Based on the chicks' age, the hen likely initiated its nest in late March.
After several missed transmission windows, we were delighted to hear from a nest-tagged bird in South Carolina this week (SC-2022-25). The bird has since left its nest and begun migration, providing an example of how woodcock nesting in the winter range frequently migrate after losing their nests.
Update 8 April 2022. This week we've had a larger movement of birds into the northern portion of the woodcock's breeding range, including Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Wisconsin, and northern Michigan. Our collaborators in North Carolina also located NC-2022-37's nest near Durham, North Carolina. It looks like the nest hatched successfully; hopefully the bird is now raising a brood! Thanks to Chris Baranski and Chad Watson for finding the nest.
Update 1 April 2022. Quite a bit new this week. South Carolina has deployed a transmitter on a nesting hen, Louisiana birds have reported migratory movements including a brief stopover in the eastern management region, and NC-2022-36 has become our northernmost bird by crossing the Bay of Fundy into Nova Scotia. Additionally, Gary Costanzo of Virginia DWR confirmed a nesting attempt by VA-2022-100, but the nest was unfortunately depredated between March 23rd and 29th. We haven't heard from VA-2022-100 since the depredation; we'll see if it decides to migrate or stick around.
Update 24 March 2022. Reports continue to trickle in of woodcock moving further north, including from a collaborator near Montreal. Our tagged birds are also showing continued migratory initiation in the south. Migration picked up in North Carolina this week, with more than half of tagged woodcock now having left the state. We've also received new transmissions from fall tagged birds which shed some light on winter movements in areas that we haven't deployed tags.
Update 18 March 2022. The first woodcock have started to show up around the University of Maine, and our tagged birds aren't far behind. Our northernmost bird in the east has now reached the Maine coast, while in the Midwest our first bird has reached Michigan. Large concentrations of birds continue to bottle up at mid-Atlantic latitudes as they migrate from wintering areas in the deep south. We saw our first migratory initiation from Virginia this week, and migration is slowly beginning to pick up in North Carolina.
Update 9 March 2022. Reports are starting to creep in of woodcock in southern Maine as warmer weather accelerates snowmelt in the northeast. Our GPS locations of tagged woodcock are lagging a little bit (our northernmost bird is still in Rhode Island), but we are starting to see new movements into Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Ohio. Most birds have now left their capture sites in Alabama and Florida, although we have not seen much movement yet from North Carolina and Virginia birds.
Update 2 March 2022. Migration initiation continues throughout the southwest, with new birds leaving South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. Most of these movements are still ending at mid-latitudes (Ohio, Kentucky, Virginia) reflecting remaining snow cover in the northeast US that prohibits movements further north. Our northernmost bird is still RI-2021-53, which has spent several weeks in Rhode Island. We are expecting that some woodcock at wintering or stopover sites may attempt to nest soon; Colby has identified several potential nest sites in the southeast so far that collaborators are attempting to confirm. We'll post here when those nests are confirmed; much thanks to everyone who is putting in the legwork to find them!
Update 25 February 2022. Migratory initiation has sped up considerably in the southern US, as about half of our birds from Alabama and Florida begin moving north. North Carolina and Virginia birds have remained stationary so far, although the Rhode Island birds have been engaging in some ranging/recursive movements in the mid-Atlantic. Our northernmost bird is currently in Rhode Island, although the rapidly-retreating snowpack could allow woodcock to move as far north as southern Maine at the moment. Expected snow throughout the northeast on Friday might knock back or slow down these migratory movements a bit.
Update 16 February 2022. We're starting to see some movements north, suggesting the start of spring woodcock migration. So far we've seen two birds initiate migration (besides the recursive movements from last week), originating in Alabama and Virginia. The majority of the tags that are currently online were deployed in the fall; most of the spring tags have been deployed by our collaborators and should start broadcasting by the next update.
Update 9 February 2022. Transmitter deployments are currently underway across the southern US; the Florida crew finished up last weekend, and the North Carolina and Alabama crews are currently deploying tags. All deployed tags should start broadcasting regularly by the end of next week. We're not seeing any large scale migratory initiation just yet, but RI-2021-53 and RI-2021-59 both made southerly and then recursive northerly movements around the end of January. These seem to be most likely the result of snowfall, and RI-2021-53 returned to the same area that it left after the snow melted. This is a repeat of a similar movement that RI-2021-53 made in mid January, suggesting that long mid-winter movements (> 80 miles) are a part of its strategy for avoiding snowfall.
Update 12 January 2022. Things are slowing down fairly quickly now as woodcock settle in for the winter and our fall transmitters run low on battery life. These will be replaced by spring transmitters shortly, the first of which (from Rhode Island and Virginia) are already active. One transmitter has reported a movement since the last update, with RI-2021-53 migrating to Delaware in December and then Virginia in early January. Overall we've seen very little movement from birds since the large snowfall in the mid-Atlantic last week, perhaps indicating that woodcock were able to take shelter and weather the snow until it melted.
Update 4 January 2022. Happy New Year! While we would traditionally think of this as a stationary season for our woodcock, the late onset of winter weather in much of the eastern US is prompting more movement than we would normally expect. The last two Pennsylvania birds, and one Vermont bird persisting in northern New Jersey, departed to the wintering range in the second and third weeks of December. Some movements are also occurring in the southern US, with PA-2021-42 flying from Tennessee to Louisiana and an attempted cross of the Chesapeake by PA-2021-42. This failed crossing of a water body is especially interesting; it's the second time we've observed this in our dataset (NC-2021-21 attempted to cross the Gulf of St. Lawrence in Spring 2021) and seems to suggest that some woodcock are treating water crossings as prospecting movements (i.e. they don't know what's on the other side), or potentially abort the attempt with unfavorable weather. We're also seeing some movements from earlier in the season that are now trickling in, especially from Rhode Island transmitters which have now entered frequent location mode.
Update 15 December 2021. The traditional fall migration period for woodcock is just about over, and we should be seeing the last few movements uploading to satellites over the next week or two. There are still at least four birds north of Virginia as of today; two in Rhode Island and two in Pennsylvania. Woodcock are known to persist in Rhode Island year-round, but the two left in Pennsylvania are probably the product of a very mild winter so far. A couple of interesting notes from this week's movements: VT-2021-25's most recent movement to Alabama puts it less than 2 miles away from PA-2021-34 (small world!), and VT-2021-23 is now on the edge of a saltwater lagoon in the Florida panhandle.
Update 8 December 2021. Those birds which have initiated migration have mostly settled down at this point, although we're still seeing a few movements from birds trickling from Virginia and Maryland into the southeast. Two birds still haven't initiated migration in Pennsylvania, and at least five birds are left in Rhode Island (although two have begun possible premigratory movements). Some of the Rhode Island birds may end up staying through the winter, but we anticipate that the Pennsylvania birds will begin migration with the next heavy snowfall.
Update 29 November 2021. Happy holidays! With snow falling over most of Canada and the northeastern US, the last few woodcock are getting some gentle encouragement to start their migration south. The last birds have left New Brunswick and Vermont, and all but two of the Pennsylvania-tagged birds have left the state. The first birds to begin migration have now effectively dispersed throughout the southeastern US and are settling into their winter ranges. We haven't seen much movement into the wintering portion of the Central Management Region yet (with the exception of Alabama), but a few birds in Tennessee, Kentucky, and Indiana might still make it to Mississippi and Louisiana.
Update 18 November 2021. This has been quite the week for our woodcock. Recent transmissions show a 100 mile recursive movement from South Carolina back to North Carolina, stopover near a former capture site in Cape May, New Jersey, and an 800 mile movement straight west across the US from Rhode Island to Indiana. It's not uncommon for fall migrants to creep west on their way down south, but a movement this far west without any decline in latitude is unprecedented.
Update 10 November 2021. In the last week three birds left Pennsylvania, all heading rapidly south to Alabama, Georgia, and Kentucky. We're also seeing that several birds which have reached the wintering range are beginning to slow down; this might be a sign that they've reached their wintering location, or it could be due to an extended stopover. It will likely be a few weeks before we're certain. While our northernmost bird is still in New Brunswick, regular freezing nighttime temperatures are going to provide some significant incentive to start flying south over the next week or two.
Update 4 November 2021. This week woodcock began to initiate migration in northeastern Vermont, and the Quebec birds continued their migration into the southeastern US. We also had two recursive movements around October 29th, when birds traveling through southern New York took an unusual turn west. This was a few days after the northeaster came through, so I'm wondering if some remnant weather patterns may have pushed them off course. Our southernmost woodcock is currently in Georgia, so the first birds should be reaching their wintering ranges within the next week or two.
Update 27 October 2021. The majority of birds in Quebec and New Brunswick have now initiated migration, as well as a few birds from Vermont and one from Pennsylvania. These birds are still slowly working their way south through New England, with most migrants located at stopovers between Maine and Pennsylvania. We expect that birds in northern Vermont will begin to move south within the next week or two.
Update 22 October 2021. Woodcock migration has officially started, with our first 3 birds beginning migratory movements between October 15th and 18th. These three birds are from Quebec, Pennsylvania, and Vermont. Traditionally we'd expect that migration starts a little bit earlier at high latitudes, and we may see that the Quebec birds leave earlier over the next few weeks.
Update 8 October 2021. We're in the "quiet before the storm" for woodcock migration, with ~32 new transmitters deployed but not uploading locations yet. We'll start hearing from them roughly once per week starting on October 15th when they transition to their normal fall schedules. In the meantime we don't seem to be missing much; only one transmitter has recorded a movement in recent weeks. VA-2021-92 made a 30 mile northward movement in Quebec at the end of September, which fits the pattern for pre-migratory ranging movements.
Update 20 September 2021. New movements have been minimal since the two July migrants settled, with only one brief ranging movement from a West Virginia bird in August. Our collaborators just finished deploying 15 new transmitters in Rhode Island, which will remain dormant until this spring. Over the next few weeks we'll be deploying several dozen new transmitters in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Vermont, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Virginia. These transmitters will then provide daily locations once migration starts ~ October 15th.
Update 9 August 2021. Two birds (tagged in Alabama and South Carolina) reported early migratory movements back to their capture states in mid-July. These mid-summer movements are rare, but not unheard of; we'll likely see a few more birds start moving in August and September before the bulk of migratory movements start in mid-October. Meanwhile, our EWMRC collaborators are preparing for another season of fall captures. We anticipate new transmitters coming online in Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia in late September and early October.
Update 28 June 2021. All of our transmitters have now switched to an infrequent schedule, allowing them to save battery life until fall migration. However, we're still seeing some mid-summer dispersal and exploratory movements. FL-2021-01 has made two exploratory movements so far, the most recent movement totaling >150 miles round trip, before returning to its capture site.
Update 18 May 2021. Two new nests in Quebec and Maine this week, as well as a rare southerly movement as NC-2021-22 flies from New York to Pennsylvania. Now that spring migration is coming to a close, our male transmitters are switching to an infrequent transmission schedule to save battery life for next season. Our female transmitters will continue their frequent schedules for another month so that we can pinpoint early summer nests.
Update 4 May 2021. We have confirmation of three more nests this week, from New York, Quebec, and Prince Edward Island. Unfortunately the New York and Quebec nests were depredated before our collaborators got there, but the Prince Edward Island bird was confirmed to have a brood. We're still getting a few more birds migrating from Ontario to Quebec, and conducting short ranging movements, particularly in Nova Scotia (typical for that region) and post-nest failure. However, the vast majority of the birds have settled down into what will likely be their summer ranges.
Update 27 April 2021. Nesting initiation continues as more birds settle into the breeding range. Our collaborators found three new nests this week in Maine, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts. The Maine bird held its nest despite two inches of new snowfall, but the nest was depredated by a bobcat hours before it was found by a state biologist. Some pretty rotten luck, although the bird survived to potentially nest again.
Update 20 April 2021. Migration is slowing down a little but nesting is picking up. One of our birds, which attempted to nest in North Carolina around March 12th, unfortunately failed and flew to Rhode Island on March 26th/27th. However, our University of Rhode Island collaborators found it renesting with a thermal camera on Monday. This is the first (to my knowledge) recorded instance of a woodcock migrating and then renesting after nest failure, which occurs in very few species of birds. We're hoping that continued work this spring/summer (and retroactive analysis of prior woodcock spring movements) will help shed some light on how widespread this phenomenon is.
Update 13 April 2021. Movements are starting to slow down a bit as birds reach the northern extent of the breeding range, as far west as Minnesota and as far east as Nova Scotia. We've had a new confirmed nest from a transmittered bird in Connecticut, located on a ~60 degree slope covered in phragmites on the side of a capped landfill. While this might not be traditional woodcock habitat, the woodcock's exceptional camouflage still makes it difficult to spot.
Update 31 March 2021. After several weeks of warm weather, snowpacks in Maine and Canada have now retreated to the point where woodcock can return in large numbers. Three transmittered birds have now reached Maine, and five birds have reached Canada (the northernmost in Nova Scotia). We've also had two birds from Vermont and Pennsylvania return to their fall capture sites this week, near Missisquoi National Wildlife Refuge and State College, Pennsylvania.
We've also had numerous recent nesting events in southern states, areas typically considered the 'nonbreeding range'. In addition to anecdotal reports of nests and broods throughout the south this month, our collaborators at the University of Rhode Island spotted nesting evidence among two transmittered birds last week. Collaborators in Virginia and North Carolina were able to check both and confirm that these birds were nesting.
Update 22 March 2021. We're getting a little more northern progression as the snowpack melts, with our northernmost birds reaching Ontario and Michigan. This advance is much more apparent along the coast, as birds concentrate in New Jersey and Massachusetts. Migration initiation is also starting to speed up in the northern part of the wintering range, with roughly half of the North Carolina birds and almost all of the Maryland birds now moving north.
Update 16 March 2021. Our migrating birds are pushing steadily north as warm weather causes the snowpack to recede. Our northernmost marked bird is currently outside Buffalo NY, although there have been anecdotal observations of woodcock arriving as far north as coastal New Brunswick. There are a couple of interesting patterns to note in this week's data. First, there's been a significant buildup of birds in southeastern Massachusetts, likely due to the heavy representation of Rhode Island birds in our data and the recent snowmelt in the area. Second, we're starting to see AL-2021-11 display some backtracking movements in the midwest, bouncing between Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky. This type of movement is common in the spring as birds reach the snow line and get pushed further south due to weather or lack of foraging areas, and we'll likely see more of these movements when we get intermittent periods of winter weather.
Update 8 March 2021. We've been seeing a lot more migration initiation in the past week, but as the snowpack remains pretty stationary there hasn't been all that much more northward progression. Our northernmost birds are still in coastal Massachusetts and Ohio, with a few more birds progressing into Indiana and New Jersey. All birds captured in Alabama, and most birds captured in South Carolina and Georgia, have now begun migration. North Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland are the last three nonbreeding states where we haven't seen widespread initiation of migration yet.
Update 2 March 2021. This week kicked off a lot of movements throughout the southeast. Birds have begun to leave Florida and Georgia at a steady clip, along with a few odd migrants from Virginia, Alabama, North Carolina and South Carolina. Although most of these birds have only moved a state or two north, one bird has made it to Cape Cod, another to Ohio, and a third has reached NYC.
As in previous years, the northern progression of birds closely matches with the receding snowpack. Given the cold weather that's anticipated over the next week in the northeast, these northern birds will probably remain stationary for a bit. However, given the ranging movements that we're seeing from birds still remaining in the southeast, we're likely to see more birds initiate migration shortly and head up towards the edge of the snowpack.
Update 25 February 2021. We're just wrapping up transmitter deployments throughout the southeastern US, with new tags coming online in MD, NC, SC, FL, GA and AL. We're continuing to see some early northward movements, and most recently a female woodcock marked last fall in Rhode Island left her central Florida wintering area and is currently staging in South Carolina. If past year's are any indication, we expect things to really heat up, migration wise, during the first few weeks of March.
Update 16 February 2021. Over the past few weeks project cooperators have been working hard to deploy transmitters throughout the southeastern US. New transmitters have been and will continue to come online from North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, Virginia, Maryland, and Florida over the coming days. We've already seen some of the first early movements northward by a few birds. Perhaps this is a sign of early spring?
Update 4 January 2021. As 2020 came to a close, the majority of our marked birds had settled into wintering areas from the Mid-Atlantic, throughout the Southeast, and west along the Gulf Coast. We expect some periodic mid-winter movements as birds adjust to incoming weather systems, or begin to shuffle around in anticipation of spring migration. During this 'off season', our transmitters switch to a less-frequent location schedule to save battery life, and we will likely post fewer updates between now and the onset of spring, however the mapping tool below will continue to update as new data come in.
Beginning in late January, cooperators will begin deploying new transmitters on birds throughout the Southeast, and we look forward to a new cohort of marked birds to track on spring migration, which we expect will get underway sometime in mid-February.
Update 21 December. Only one bird made a movement this week; QUE-2020-21 moved from its stopover location in Kentucky (where it's spent the last 6 weeks) and flew south to Mississippi and then Louisiana. We're still expecting some movement from birds in Rhode Island and Virginia (west of the Appalachians) as fall migration draws to a close.
Update 14 December. Migration is starting to slow down as most of our birds settle into their winter ranges. The last marked bird left Pennsylvania this week, leaving Virginia and Rhode Island as the last two states with birds that haven't migrated. Our most interesting movement this week was from bird #RI-2020-44, which became the first marked bird from Rhode Island to make it as far west as Mississippi.
Update 8 December. This week several migrants entered the south-central United States, including Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, and Texas. Another migrant has made it to northern Florida (near Jacksonville) by flying off the coast of South Carolina. Our altitude readings suggest that, as of midnight on December 4th, the bird was flying 183 meters (600 feet) over the surface of the Atlantic.
Update 1 December. Birds are currently initiating migration in Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Virginia. Our early migrants from Quebec and Vermont are beginning to localize in the southeast US, likely in areas where they'll stay for the winter. Two birds also entered Tennessee this week. The first flew southwest from Ohio, while the second flew almost straight west from North Carolina, flying through the valleys of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Update 23 November. Migration has picked up in Pennsylvania, where about half of our marked birds have left for warmer locales. Our first migrant from Virginia this year has also checked in from South Carolina. It's still a little early for the rest of the Virginia birds to move, but we expect the remaining Pennsylvania and Vermont birds to initiate migration within the next few weeks as things start to get a bit colder.
Update 18 November. Migration initiation is continuing in the northeast, as more birds report having left Quebec, Vermont, and Pennsylvania. We're expecting a number of new transmitters to come online in Virginia and Rhode Island this week as the initiation dates for these birds gets closer. We're also seeing the first few birds start to settle into their winter ranges in the southeast.
Update 11 November. Birds continue to initiate migration in the northeast, with the last few birds starting to leave Maine and Quebec for warmer climes. A major movement on Halloween weekend brought several birds from Quebec west into Ohio, Kentucky, and Illinois. Some may head back east as migration continues, but we expect that at least a few of these birds will spend the winter in the Mississippi Flyway.
Update 8 November. We saw major migratory movements associated with the remnants of Hurricane Zeta moving through the northeast around October 30th, and some of our more recent uploads have confirmed this. We currently have migrating birds strung out throughout New England, the mid-Atlantic, and into the southeast. As is typical for woodcock migration, we see some birds arriving at what might be their eventual wintering areas while others remain on the breeding grounds. We expect that now is the time for good numbers of migrant birds in southern New England and points further south.
Update 2 November. We saw major migratory movements late last week and over the weekend, with birds moving out of Canada and the northeastern states (ME, VT) and into southern New England and the Mid-Atlantic. These mass movements were probably driven by the weather system associated with the remnants of Hurricane Zeta, which moved through the northeast late last week. We currently have migrating birds strung out from Maine to Georgia, and we expect to pick up more information on migrant birds over the next few days. Resident woodcock from southern breeding areas like PA have been staying put for the most part, but we have observed one bird that left central PA on October 24th and arrived in central GA on November 1st.
Update 26 October 2020: Early migrants are continuing to move south out of Quebec and Vermont. One of these birds (VA-2019-47) is anticipated to cross Lake Ontario shortly. Currently our furthest moving migrant (VT-2020-17) has moved south from northeastern Vermont into central Virginia.
Update 23 October 2020: The first few migrants from Vermont and Quebec are beginning sporadic movements south. One bird summering in Quebec (VA-2019-47) has stopped over on the northern shore of Lake Ontario. This is a common strategy among migratory birds; this woodcock will rest, refuel, and wait for favorable northerly winds before it attempts to cross the Great Lake.
Update 20 October 2020: We've continued to see a few sporadic southward movements, including a few birds trickling out of Canada into the US, and one bird marked in northern Vermont that has migrated to Massachusetts. Most birds remain stationary, but we expect to have more frequent movements over the coming weeks. In general it seems we may see a relatively early start to fall migration this year, but only the birds will tell us for sure over the next few weeks.
Update 15 October 2020: Fall migration has officially begun, although we don't believe woodcock have yet begun moving south in large numbers. Over the past 10 days we saw our first movements of a few GPS-marked woodcock that traveled south out of Canada into NY and PA. Most birds remain stationary, and with transmitters shifting to a frequent data collection schedule today we expect to have more frequent updates, and movements, over the coming weeks.
Update 5 October 2020: We've been working hard to deploy this fall's transmitters in Vermont, Maine, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Quebec, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick. As these new transmitters come online, their locations will be uploaded to the map below with frequent updates of woodcock locations beginning around October 15th.
Update 19 September 2020: We're currently about halfway through deploying this fall's transmitters, with collaborators working in Vermont, Maine, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Quebec, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick. As these new transmitters come online, their locations will be uploaded to the map below. Using our new interactive mapping tool, you can view the status of woodcock locations for a specific range of dates by toggling the slider below.
Update 10 September 2020: Over the summer our transmitters shift to a very infrequent location schedule to stretch out the last of their battery life. Most of the woodcock that are still transmitting have remained fairly stationary, but a few birds have made some unexpected movements, including a bird that spent much of the spring and summer in Maine but has recently moved south to Northern Virginia. Likewise, in late June a woodcock moved south out of New Hampshire and into Connecticut. We periodically see birds that surprise us and don't behave like they are 'supposed to' by making long-distance movements outside of the normal migratory periods, and these are good examples.
Beginning next week we will start marking birds in advance of fall migration, with deployments expected in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Maine, Vermont, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia and West Virginia. We don't anticipate major migratory movements until late October, but we will update this site as new location data become available.
The most recent location and general distribution of our marked birds are shown on the map below, and some past updates as well as our historic migration data are archived below.
For more information on the GPS-tracking technology that we use, visit our transmitter page.
Many of these tags will continue to collect weekly locations throughout this summer and transmit those locations to Argos roughly once per month. They should be almost out of battery by the end of August, at which point they will go dormant. We've programmed them to resume collecting locations on December 18th so that we can determine if they've returned to their wintering locations (measuring site fidelity). We expect the last of this spring's transmitters to run out of battery in January 2023.
We'll have a detailed report of the data collected this spring, and preliminary results from the analyses that we're conducting using this data, when we release the latest EWMRC annual report in late summer or early fall. Until then, thank you to all collaborators who have tagged birds and checked nests this season!
Update 3 June 2022. One new migratory movement was reported this week by AL-2022-17, which has spent the last month flying from Michigan to Manitoba. This makes it the second bird in project history to enter the province (the first to do so was AL-2020-03). Based on the late timing this may be a post-nesting dispersal movement, in which case we'd expect this hen to attempt to nest again shortly.
Our collaborators in New York and New Brunswick also reported two new nests this week; thank you Thomas Cunningham and Larissa Simulik!
Update 26 May 2022. This week we saw a few short ranging movements in Maine and New York, most likely in response to failed breeding attempts. Most woodcock movements we see at this point are likely to be short ranging or dispersal events which occur infrequently during the summer. To better record these events while still conserving battery life, our male transmitters will shift to a one-location-per-week schedule starting tomorrow. This will result in a broadcast once every ~3 weeks.
Update 18 May 2022. Nesting season is in full swing, and this week we have two new confirmed nests (Maine and New Brunswick) as well as 3 more suspected nests in Nova Scotia and Quebec. This includes a suspected nest from NC-2022-37 near Saint-Stanislas Quebec, which is the northernmost evidence of nesting that we've observed during the project and is outside of the known breeding range of American Woodcock as delineated by the Quebec Breeding Bird Atlas (thank you Mat Tetreault for looking this up!). Thank you to Bruce Pollard and Larissa Simulik, both of whom made long treks to check on these nests.
Update 9 May 2022. This week brought quite a few ranging movements, as is typical in late spring along the northern edge of the woodcock's range. We have one new migratory initiation from VA-2022-100, which left its wintering in coastal Virginia to visit scenic Ontario. We also have one new suspected nest and 7 new deployments from our collaborators in the New York DEC.
Update 2 May 2022. As migration for other birds starts to pick up, another spring woodcock migration is starting to trickle to a close. We have only one major movement to report this week (AL-2022-20), although a few birds on the northern extent of the woodcock's range are still making ranging movements. We'll still have a few more tag deployments this summer thanks to the New York DEC and SUNY Brockport, which have begun a breeding season study of woodcock in their state. Congrats to them on their first tag deployment last week!
Update 25 April 2022. Birds are starting to find their breeding ranges throughout the northern extent of their range. We now have birds that seem to be settling into home ranges as far east as Nova Scotia and as far west as Minnesota. This week we also saw rare documentation of stopover site fidelity as PA-2021-39 migrated north through Pennsylvania on its way to Quebec.
Update 16 April 2022. Lots of nesting news this week. Our collaborators at the University of Rhode Island confirmed a new nest location last Monday at Rhode Island's largest gasoline port. Another nest is suspected in Alabama (QUE-2021-25), although its location on private land will likely make it difficult to confirm. Virginia DWR has also gotten reports of an early brood in central Virginia. Based on the chicks' age, the hen likely initiated its nest in late March.
After several missed transmission windows, we were delighted to hear from a nest-tagged bird in South Carolina this week (SC-2022-25). The bird has since left its nest and begun migration, providing an example of how woodcock nesting in the winter range frequently migrate after losing their nests.
Update 8 April 2022. This week we've had a larger movement of birds into the northern portion of the woodcock's breeding range, including Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Wisconsin, and northern Michigan. Our collaborators in North Carolina also located NC-2022-37's nest near Durham, North Carolina. It looks like the nest hatched successfully; hopefully the bird is now raising a brood! Thanks to Chris Baranski and Chad Watson for finding the nest.
Update 1 April 2022. Quite a bit new this week. South Carolina has deployed a transmitter on a nesting hen, Louisiana birds have reported migratory movements including a brief stopover in the eastern management region, and NC-2022-36 has become our northernmost bird by crossing the Bay of Fundy into Nova Scotia. Additionally, Gary Costanzo of Virginia DWR confirmed a nesting attempt by VA-2022-100, but the nest was unfortunately depredated between March 23rd and 29th. We haven't heard from VA-2022-100 since the depredation; we'll see if it decides to migrate or stick around.
Update 24 March 2022. Reports continue to trickle in of woodcock moving further north, including from a collaborator near Montreal. Our tagged birds are also showing continued migratory initiation in the south. Migration picked up in North Carolina this week, with more than half of tagged woodcock now having left the state. We've also received new transmissions from fall tagged birds which shed some light on winter movements in areas that we haven't deployed tags.
Update 18 March 2022. The first woodcock have started to show up around the University of Maine, and our tagged birds aren't far behind. Our northernmost bird in the east has now reached the Maine coast, while in the Midwest our first bird has reached Michigan. Large concentrations of birds continue to bottle up at mid-Atlantic latitudes as they migrate from wintering areas in the deep south. We saw our first migratory initiation from Virginia this week, and migration is slowly beginning to pick up in North Carolina.
Update 9 March 2022. Reports are starting to creep in of woodcock in southern Maine as warmer weather accelerates snowmelt in the northeast. Our GPS locations of tagged woodcock are lagging a little bit (our northernmost bird is still in Rhode Island), but we are starting to see new movements into Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Ohio. Most birds have now left their capture sites in Alabama and Florida, although we have not seen much movement yet from North Carolina and Virginia birds.
Update 2 March 2022. Migration initiation continues throughout the southwest, with new birds leaving South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. Most of these movements are still ending at mid-latitudes (Ohio, Kentucky, Virginia) reflecting remaining snow cover in the northeast US that prohibits movements further north. Our northernmost bird is still RI-2021-53, which has spent several weeks in Rhode Island. We are expecting that some woodcock at wintering or stopover sites may attempt to nest soon; Colby has identified several potential nest sites in the southeast so far that collaborators are attempting to confirm. We'll post here when those nests are confirmed; much thanks to everyone who is putting in the legwork to find them!
Update 25 February 2022. Migratory initiation has sped up considerably in the southern US, as about half of our birds from Alabama and Florida begin moving north. North Carolina and Virginia birds have remained stationary so far, although the Rhode Island birds have been engaging in some ranging/recursive movements in the mid-Atlantic. Our northernmost bird is currently in Rhode Island, although the rapidly-retreating snowpack could allow woodcock to move as far north as southern Maine at the moment. Expected snow throughout the northeast on Friday might knock back or slow down these migratory movements a bit.
Update 16 February 2022. We're starting to see some movements north, suggesting the start of spring woodcock migration. So far we've seen two birds initiate migration (besides the recursive movements from last week), originating in Alabama and Virginia. The majority of the tags that are currently online were deployed in the fall; most of the spring tags have been deployed by our collaborators and should start broadcasting by the next update.
Update 9 February 2022. Transmitter deployments are currently underway across the southern US; the Florida crew finished up last weekend, and the North Carolina and Alabama crews are currently deploying tags. All deployed tags should start broadcasting regularly by the end of next week. We're not seeing any large scale migratory initiation just yet, but RI-2021-53 and RI-2021-59 both made southerly and then recursive northerly movements around the end of January. These seem to be most likely the result of snowfall, and RI-2021-53 returned to the same area that it left after the snow melted. This is a repeat of a similar movement that RI-2021-53 made in mid January, suggesting that long mid-winter movements (> 80 miles) are a part of its strategy for avoiding snowfall.
Update 12 January 2022. Things are slowing down fairly quickly now as woodcock settle in for the winter and our fall transmitters run low on battery life. These will be replaced by spring transmitters shortly, the first of which (from Rhode Island and Virginia) are already active. One transmitter has reported a movement since the last update, with RI-2021-53 migrating to Delaware in December and then Virginia in early January. Overall we've seen very little movement from birds since the large snowfall in the mid-Atlantic last week, perhaps indicating that woodcock were able to take shelter and weather the snow until it melted.
Update 4 January 2022. Happy New Year! While we would traditionally think of this as a stationary season for our woodcock, the late onset of winter weather in much of the eastern US is prompting more movement than we would normally expect. The last two Pennsylvania birds, and one Vermont bird persisting in northern New Jersey, departed to the wintering range in the second and third weeks of December. Some movements are also occurring in the southern US, with PA-2021-42 flying from Tennessee to Louisiana and an attempted cross of the Chesapeake by PA-2021-42. This failed crossing of a water body is especially interesting; it's the second time we've observed this in our dataset (NC-2021-21 attempted to cross the Gulf of St. Lawrence in Spring 2021) and seems to suggest that some woodcock are treating water crossings as prospecting movements (i.e. they don't know what's on the other side), or potentially abort the attempt with unfavorable weather. We're also seeing some movements from earlier in the season that are now trickling in, especially from Rhode Island transmitters which have now entered frequent location mode.
Update 15 December 2021. The traditional fall migration period for woodcock is just about over, and we should be seeing the last few movements uploading to satellites over the next week or two. There are still at least four birds north of Virginia as of today; two in Rhode Island and two in Pennsylvania. Woodcock are known to persist in Rhode Island year-round, but the two left in Pennsylvania are probably the product of a very mild winter so far. A couple of interesting notes from this week's movements: VT-2021-25's most recent movement to Alabama puts it less than 2 miles away from PA-2021-34 (small world!), and VT-2021-23 is now on the edge of a saltwater lagoon in the Florida panhandle.
Update 8 December 2021. Those birds which have initiated migration have mostly settled down at this point, although we're still seeing a few movements from birds trickling from Virginia and Maryland into the southeast. Two birds still haven't initiated migration in Pennsylvania, and at least five birds are left in Rhode Island (although two have begun possible premigratory movements). Some of the Rhode Island birds may end up staying through the winter, but we anticipate that the Pennsylvania birds will begin migration with the next heavy snowfall.
Update 29 November 2021. Happy holidays! With snow falling over most of Canada and the northeastern US, the last few woodcock are getting some gentle encouragement to start their migration south. The last birds have left New Brunswick and Vermont, and all but two of the Pennsylvania-tagged birds have left the state. The first birds to begin migration have now effectively dispersed throughout the southeastern US and are settling into their winter ranges. We haven't seen much movement into the wintering portion of the Central Management Region yet (with the exception of Alabama), but a few birds in Tennessee, Kentucky, and Indiana might still make it to Mississippi and Louisiana.
Update 18 November 2021. This has been quite the week for our woodcock. Recent transmissions show a 100 mile recursive movement from South Carolina back to North Carolina, stopover near a former capture site in Cape May, New Jersey, and an 800 mile movement straight west across the US from Rhode Island to Indiana. It's not uncommon for fall migrants to creep west on their way down south, but a movement this far west without any decline in latitude is unprecedented.
Update 10 November 2021. In the last week three birds left Pennsylvania, all heading rapidly south to Alabama, Georgia, and Kentucky. We're also seeing that several birds which have reached the wintering range are beginning to slow down; this might be a sign that they've reached their wintering location, or it could be due to an extended stopover. It will likely be a few weeks before we're certain. While our northernmost bird is still in New Brunswick, regular freezing nighttime temperatures are going to provide some significant incentive to start flying south over the next week or two.
Update 4 November 2021. This week woodcock began to initiate migration in northeastern Vermont, and the Quebec birds continued their migration into the southeastern US. We also had two recursive movements around October 29th, when birds traveling through southern New York took an unusual turn west. This was a few days after the northeaster came through, so I'm wondering if some remnant weather patterns may have pushed them off course. Our southernmost woodcock is currently in Georgia, so the first birds should be reaching their wintering ranges within the next week or two.
Update 27 October 2021. The majority of birds in Quebec and New Brunswick have now initiated migration, as well as a few birds from Vermont and one from Pennsylvania. These birds are still slowly working their way south through New England, with most migrants located at stopovers between Maine and Pennsylvania. We expect that birds in northern Vermont will begin to move south within the next week or two.
Update 22 October 2021. Woodcock migration has officially started, with our first 3 birds beginning migratory movements between October 15th and 18th. These three birds are from Quebec, Pennsylvania, and Vermont. Traditionally we'd expect that migration starts a little bit earlier at high latitudes, and we may see that the Quebec birds leave earlier over the next few weeks.
Update 8 October 2021. We're in the "quiet before the storm" for woodcock migration, with ~32 new transmitters deployed but not uploading locations yet. We'll start hearing from them roughly once per week starting on October 15th when they transition to their normal fall schedules. In the meantime we don't seem to be missing much; only one transmitter has recorded a movement in recent weeks. VA-2021-92 made a 30 mile northward movement in Quebec at the end of September, which fits the pattern for pre-migratory ranging movements.
Update 20 September 2021. New movements have been minimal since the two July migrants settled, with only one brief ranging movement from a West Virginia bird in August. Our collaborators just finished deploying 15 new transmitters in Rhode Island, which will remain dormant until this spring. Over the next few weeks we'll be deploying several dozen new transmitters in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Vermont, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Virginia. These transmitters will then provide daily locations once migration starts ~ October 15th.
Update 9 August 2021. Two birds (tagged in Alabama and South Carolina) reported early migratory movements back to their capture states in mid-July. These mid-summer movements are rare, but not unheard of; we'll likely see a few more birds start moving in August and September before the bulk of migratory movements start in mid-October. Meanwhile, our EWMRC collaborators are preparing for another season of fall captures. We anticipate new transmitters coming online in Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia in late September and early October.
Update 28 June 2021. All of our transmitters have now switched to an infrequent schedule, allowing them to save battery life until fall migration. However, we're still seeing some mid-summer dispersal and exploratory movements. FL-2021-01 has made two exploratory movements so far, the most recent movement totaling >150 miles round trip, before returning to its capture site.
Update 18 May 2021. Two new nests in Quebec and Maine this week, as well as a rare southerly movement as NC-2021-22 flies from New York to Pennsylvania. Now that spring migration is coming to a close, our male transmitters are switching to an infrequent transmission schedule to save battery life for next season. Our female transmitters will continue their frequent schedules for another month so that we can pinpoint early summer nests.
Update 4 May 2021. We have confirmation of three more nests this week, from New York, Quebec, and Prince Edward Island. Unfortunately the New York and Quebec nests were depredated before our collaborators got there, but the Prince Edward Island bird was confirmed to have a brood. We're still getting a few more birds migrating from Ontario to Quebec, and conducting short ranging movements, particularly in Nova Scotia (typical for that region) and post-nest failure. However, the vast majority of the birds have settled down into what will likely be their summer ranges.
Update 27 April 2021. Nesting initiation continues as more birds settle into the breeding range. Our collaborators found three new nests this week in Maine, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts. The Maine bird held its nest despite two inches of new snowfall, but the nest was depredated by a bobcat hours before it was found by a state biologist. Some pretty rotten luck, although the bird survived to potentially nest again.
Update 20 April 2021. Migration is slowing down a little but nesting is picking up. One of our birds, which attempted to nest in North Carolina around March 12th, unfortunately failed and flew to Rhode Island on March 26th/27th. However, our University of Rhode Island collaborators found it renesting with a thermal camera on Monday. This is the first (to my knowledge) recorded instance of a woodcock migrating and then renesting after nest failure, which occurs in very few species of birds. We're hoping that continued work this spring/summer (and retroactive analysis of prior woodcock spring movements) will help shed some light on how widespread this phenomenon is.
Update 13 April 2021. Movements are starting to slow down a bit as birds reach the northern extent of the breeding range, as far west as Minnesota and as far east as Nova Scotia. We've had a new confirmed nest from a transmittered bird in Connecticut, located on a ~60 degree slope covered in phragmites on the side of a capped landfill. While this might not be traditional woodcock habitat, the woodcock's exceptional camouflage still makes it difficult to spot.
Update 31 March 2021. After several weeks of warm weather, snowpacks in Maine and Canada have now retreated to the point where woodcock can return in large numbers. Three transmittered birds have now reached Maine, and five birds have reached Canada (the northernmost in Nova Scotia). We've also had two birds from Vermont and Pennsylvania return to their fall capture sites this week, near Missisquoi National Wildlife Refuge and State College, Pennsylvania.
We've also had numerous recent nesting events in southern states, areas typically considered the 'nonbreeding range'. In addition to anecdotal reports of nests and broods throughout the south this month, our collaborators at the University of Rhode Island spotted nesting evidence among two transmittered birds last week. Collaborators in Virginia and North Carolina were able to check both and confirm that these birds were nesting.
Update 22 March 2021. We're getting a little more northern progression as the snowpack melts, with our northernmost birds reaching Ontario and Michigan. This advance is much more apparent along the coast, as birds concentrate in New Jersey and Massachusetts. Migration initiation is also starting to speed up in the northern part of the wintering range, with roughly half of the North Carolina birds and almost all of the Maryland birds now moving north.
Update 16 March 2021. Our migrating birds are pushing steadily north as warm weather causes the snowpack to recede. Our northernmost marked bird is currently outside Buffalo NY, although there have been anecdotal observations of woodcock arriving as far north as coastal New Brunswick. There are a couple of interesting patterns to note in this week's data. First, there's been a significant buildup of birds in southeastern Massachusetts, likely due to the heavy representation of Rhode Island birds in our data and the recent snowmelt in the area. Second, we're starting to see AL-2021-11 display some backtracking movements in the midwest, bouncing between Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky. This type of movement is common in the spring as birds reach the snow line and get pushed further south due to weather or lack of foraging areas, and we'll likely see more of these movements when we get intermittent periods of winter weather.
Update 8 March 2021. We've been seeing a lot more migration initiation in the past week, but as the snowpack remains pretty stationary there hasn't been all that much more northward progression. Our northernmost birds are still in coastal Massachusetts and Ohio, with a few more birds progressing into Indiana and New Jersey. All birds captured in Alabama, and most birds captured in South Carolina and Georgia, have now begun migration. North Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland are the last three nonbreeding states where we haven't seen widespread initiation of migration yet.
Update 2 March 2021. This week kicked off a lot of movements throughout the southeast. Birds have begun to leave Florida and Georgia at a steady clip, along with a few odd migrants from Virginia, Alabama, North Carolina and South Carolina. Although most of these birds have only moved a state or two north, one bird has made it to Cape Cod, another to Ohio, and a third has reached NYC.
As in previous years, the northern progression of birds closely matches with the receding snowpack. Given the cold weather that's anticipated over the next week in the northeast, these northern birds will probably remain stationary for a bit. However, given the ranging movements that we're seeing from birds still remaining in the southeast, we're likely to see more birds initiate migration shortly and head up towards the edge of the snowpack.
Update 25 February 2021. We're just wrapping up transmitter deployments throughout the southeastern US, with new tags coming online in MD, NC, SC, FL, GA and AL. We're continuing to see some early northward movements, and most recently a female woodcock marked last fall in Rhode Island left her central Florida wintering area and is currently staging in South Carolina. If past year's are any indication, we expect things to really heat up, migration wise, during the first few weeks of March.
Update 16 February 2021. Over the past few weeks project cooperators have been working hard to deploy transmitters throughout the southeastern US. New transmitters have been and will continue to come online from North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, Virginia, Maryland, and Florida over the coming days. We've already seen some of the first early movements northward by a few birds. Perhaps this is a sign of early spring?
Update 4 January 2021. As 2020 came to a close, the majority of our marked birds had settled into wintering areas from the Mid-Atlantic, throughout the Southeast, and west along the Gulf Coast. We expect some periodic mid-winter movements as birds adjust to incoming weather systems, or begin to shuffle around in anticipation of spring migration. During this 'off season', our transmitters switch to a less-frequent location schedule to save battery life, and we will likely post fewer updates between now and the onset of spring, however the mapping tool below will continue to update as new data come in.
Beginning in late January, cooperators will begin deploying new transmitters on birds throughout the Southeast, and we look forward to a new cohort of marked birds to track on spring migration, which we expect will get underway sometime in mid-February.
Update 21 December. Only one bird made a movement this week; QUE-2020-21 moved from its stopover location in Kentucky (where it's spent the last 6 weeks) and flew south to Mississippi and then Louisiana. We're still expecting some movement from birds in Rhode Island and Virginia (west of the Appalachians) as fall migration draws to a close.
Update 14 December. Migration is starting to slow down as most of our birds settle into their winter ranges. The last marked bird left Pennsylvania this week, leaving Virginia and Rhode Island as the last two states with birds that haven't migrated. Our most interesting movement this week was from bird #RI-2020-44, which became the first marked bird from Rhode Island to make it as far west as Mississippi.
Update 8 December. This week several migrants entered the south-central United States, including Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, and Texas. Another migrant has made it to northern Florida (near Jacksonville) by flying off the coast of South Carolina. Our altitude readings suggest that, as of midnight on December 4th, the bird was flying 183 meters (600 feet) over the surface of the Atlantic.
Update 1 December. Birds are currently initiating migration in Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Virginia. Our early migrants from Quebec and Vermont are beginning to localize in the southeast US, likely in areas where they'll stay for the winter. Two birds also entered Tennessee this week. The first flew southwest from Ohio, while the second flew almost straight west from North Carolina, flying through the valleys of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Update 23 November. Migration has picked up in Pennsylvania, where about half of our marked birds have left for warmer locales. Our first migrant from Virginia this year has also checked in from South Carolina. It's still a little early for the rest of the Virginia birds to move, but we expect the remaining Pennsylvania and Vermont birds to initiate migration within the next few weeks as things start to get a bit colder.
Update 18 November. Migration initiation is continuing in the northeast, as more birds report having left Quebec, Vermont, and Pennsylvania. We're expecting a number of new transmitters to come online in Virginia and Rhode Island this week as the initiation dates for these birds gets closer. We're also seeing the first few birds start to settle into their winter ranges in the southeast.
Update 11 November. Birds continue to initiate migration in the northeast, with the last few birds starting to leave Maine and Quebec for warmer climes. A major movement on Halloween weekend brought several birds from Quebec west into Ohio, Kentucky, and Illinois. Some may head back east as migration continues, but we expect that at least a few of these birds will spend the winter in the Mississippi Flyway.
Update 8 November. We saw major migratory movements associated with the remnants of Hurricane Zeta moving through the northeast around October 30th, and some of our more recent uploads have confirmed this. We currently have migrating birds strung out throughout New England, the mid-Atlantic, and into the southeast. As is typical for woodcock migration, we see some birds arriving at what might be their eventual wintering areas while others remain on the breeding grounds. We expect that now is the time for good numbers of migrant birds in southern New England and points further south.
Update 2 November. We saw major migratory movements late last week and over the weekend, with birds moving out of Canada and the northeastern states (ME, VT) and into southern New England and the Mid-Atlantic. These mass movements were probably driven by the weather system associated with the remnants of Hurricane Zeta, which moved through the northeast late last week. We currently have migrating birds strung out from Maine to Georgia, and we expect to pick up more information on migrant birds over the next few days. Resident woodcock from southern breeding areas like PA have been staying put for the most part, but we have observed one bird that left central PA on October 24th and arrived in central GA on November 1st.
Update 26 October 2020: Early migrants are continuing to move south out of Quebec and Vermont. One of these birds (VA-2019-47) is anticipated to cross Lake Ontario shortly. Currently our furthest moving migrant (VT-2020-17) has moved south from northeastern Vermont into central Virginia.
Update 23 October 2020: The first few migrants from Vermont and Quebec are beginning sporadic movements south. One bird summering in Quebec (VA-2019-47) has stopped over on the northern shore of Lake Ontario. This is a common strategy among migratory birds; this woodcock will rest, refuel, and wait for favorable northerly winds before it attempts to cross the Great Lake.
Update 20 October 2020: We've continued to see a few sporadic southward movements, including a few birds trickling out of Canada into the US, and one bird marked in northern Vermont that has migrated to Massachusetts. Most birds remain stationary, but we expect to have more frequent movements over the coming weeks. In general it seems we may see a relatively early start to fall migration this year, but only the birds will tell us for sure over the next few weeks.
Update 15 October 2020: Fall migration has officially begun, although we don't believe woodcock have yet begun moving south in large numbers. Over the past 10 days we saw our first movements of a few GPS-marked woodcock that traveled south out of Canada into NY and PA. Most birds remain stationary, and with transmitters shifting to a frequent data collection schedule today we expect to have more frequent updates, and movements, over the coming weeks.
Update 5 October 2020: We've been working hard to deploy this fall's transmitters in Vermont, Maine, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Quebec, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick. As these new transmitters come online, their locations will be uploaded to the map below with frequent updates of woodcock locations beginning around October 15th.
Update 19 September 2020: We're currently about halfway through deploying this fall's transmitters, with collaborators working in Vermont, Maine, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Quebec, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick. As these new transmitters come online, their locations will be uploaded to the map below. Using our new interactive mapping tool, you can view the status of woodcock locations for a specific range of dates by toggling the slider below.
Update 10 September 2020: Over the summer our transmitters shift to a very infrequent location schedule to stretch out the last of their battery life. Most of the woodcock that are still transmitting have remained fairly stationary, but a few birds have made some unexpected movements, including a bird that spent much of the spring and summer in Maine but has recently moved south to Northern Virginia. Likewise, in late June a woodcock moved south out of New Hampshire and into Connecticut. We periodically see birds that surprise us and don't behave like they are 'supposed to' by making long-distance movements outside of the normal migratory periods, and these are good examples.
Beginning next week we will start marking birds in advance of fall migration, with deployments expected in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Maine, Vermont, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia and West Virginia. We don't anticipate major migratory movements until late October, but we will update this site as new location data become available.
The most recent location and general distribution of our marked birds are shown on the map below, and some past updates as well as our historic migration data are archived below.
For more information on the GPS-tracking technology that we use, visit our transmitter page.
Update 1 June 2020: This will be the last spring 2020 migration update. No new migratory movements have been documented over the weekend and this largely adheres to previous updates, the woodcock have finished migration. While some individuals may continue to move large distances over the summer, as observed the past two years, these movements are likely related to post-breeding molt migrations.
Spring 2020 has a been for lack of other words, unprecedented. We were fortunate to have deployed our last transmitters prior to quarantine efforts designed to stem the spread of COVID-19. Our capture efforts in January-February resulted in an amazing number of woodcock captured. We monitored woodcock migrating through and into three states new to the project and three Canadian provinces new to the project. We tracked birds to the far eastern breeding extent (Newfoundland) and to almost the western breeding extent (Manitoba).
Our project partners, collaborators, and volunteers have been instrumental in building momentum and we are already eagerly looking forward to Fall 2020. Thank you to all of our supporters and everyone who follows our twice weekly migration updates. Yours interests keep our fires burning, have a safe and healthy summer!
Update 28 May 2020: No new migratory movement observed. Birds have only moved locally over the past few days.
Update 26 May 2020: The only recent woodcock migratory movement we documented, was a bird leaving southern Michigan and moving to the Quebec/Ontario Boarder. The only other movements we observed were local. Migration has largely subsided but a subset of woodcock are continuing to preform migratory movements.
Update 21 May 2020: The only migratory movement observed was from a male woodcock marked in western Virginia. He has spent the last 2 months in Virginia, and just flew 1,135 km to southeastern Quebec. He likely made the trip over a few days, but because we are only collecting infrequent locations from birds, we did not document his stopover locations.
Update 18 May 2020: One woodcock moved from southern Ontario to southern Quebec and another that was on Prince Edward Island has flown back to New Brunswick. Otherwise, most woodcock have settled into residency and are only moving locally.
Update 14 May 2020: Most marked woodcock are still primarily uploading local movements. But one woodcock that had been in northern New York for over a month has migrated into eastern Quebec near the St. Lawrence River.
Update 11 May 2020: Little to no migratory activity was observed this weekend. We are curious to see how the late season snowstorm that blanketed much of the northeast in a few inches of snow will affect woodcock. But we may need to wait a few days for transmitters to upload locations.
Update 8 May 2020: Woodcock are continuing to move locally with very little migration activity. One woodcock in central Pennsylvania has moved into southern Quebec, but that is really the only migratory movement of note.
Many of the females marked last winter appear to be on nests, as locations are clustered in ~10-20 meter areas for between 2-4 weeks. Woodcock broods have been encountered in east-central Maine for the past few days, in what is likely a 'pulse' of hatching nests. We expect a similar 'pulse' of hatching nests across southern Ontario and parts of southern Quebec. However persistent snow cover has likely delayed nesting in many parts of southern Quebec.
Many of the females marked last winter appear to be on nests, as locations are clustered in ~10-20 meter areas for between 2-4 weeks. Woodcock broods have been encountered in east-central Maine for the past few days, in what is likely a 'pulse' of hatching nests. We expect a similar 'pulse' of hatching nests across southern Ontario and parts of southern Quebec. However persistent snow cover has likely delayed nesting in many parts of southern Quebec.
Update 4 May 2020: Most movements over the past few days have been local, however one woodcock that had been in Michigan for longer than a month has flown in to south central Ontario.
Update 1 May 2020: Relatively little migratory movement has occurred this past week. One of the juvenile males in New Brunswick moved onto Prince Edward Island, for a province-project first.
Update 27 April 2020: There has been limited migratory movements over the weekend, with a few birds moving around locally. The snow pack in much of southern Canada has been slow to recede and most woodcock are 'stalled' on the southern snow extent.
Over the weekend, a woodcock marked last winter in Alabama migrated into western Manitoba. Following the migration of a woodcock to Newfoundland last week, we currently have woodcock on the western and eastern breeding range extents.
Over the weekend, a woodcock marked last winter in Alabama migrated into western Manitoba. Following the migration of a woodcock to Newfoundland last week, we currently have woodcock on the western and eastern breeding range extents.
Update 23 April 2020: We have only observed a small amount of migratory movements of the past few days. But for a project first, one of the woodcock on Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia has flown across the Gulf of St. Lawrence and is currently in Newfoundland! The juvenile male was captured in Cape May, New Jersey December 2019 and now he is literally on the edge of the species eastern range extent.
To get to Newfoundland, the woodcock would have preformed a fairly long ocean flight ranging from 60-320 miles (113-520 km). Over the past year, we have continued to build evidence that woodcock migrating from maritime Canada and along the eastern seaboard preform migratory flights over sections of the Atlantic ocean. Needless to say, this is pretty dang neat!
To get to Newfoundland, the woodcock would have preformed a fairly long ocean flight ranging from 60-320 miles (113-520 km). Over the past year, we have continued to build evidence that woodcock migrating from maritime Canada and along the eastern seaboard preform migratory flights over sections of the Atlantic ocean. Needless to say, this is pretty dang neat!
Update 20 April 2020: Over the past weekend, multiple woodcock have continued to migrate north into New Brunswick, northern Maine, and Quebec. One of the female woodcock marked last fall near Saquenay, Quebec has returned near her initial capture location. Additionally, a female marked near Tugg Hill in New York migrated north into Illinois, then flew east and is back in New York ~95 km from her capture location.
We are continuing to receive reports of woodcock recently hatched broods throughout the mid-Atlantic and southern New England. And a brood was sighted near Charleston, SC, likely nearing brood break-up (independence from mom). Meanwhile, other females are just returning to their breeding locations in southern Canada. Pretty incredible variability.
We are continuing to receive reports of woodcock recently hatched broods throughout the mid-Atlantic and southern New England. And a brood was sighted near Charleston, SC, likely nearing brood break-up (independence from mom). Meanwhile, other females are just returning to their breeding locations in southern Canada. Pretty incredible variability.
Update 16 April 2020: Very little woodcock migratory movements has been observed during the past few days. Some woodcock are still following the receding snow cover north throughout most of southern Canada, but many birds appear to have entered residency periods and have not migrated in the past 1-2 weeks.
Update 13 April 2020: A winter storm hit much of northern New England (4/9-4/10), blanketing much of the area in snow. Many woodcock have not uploaded locations yet, but of the few that have, some birds appear to have remained near their last locations, while a few birds have either moved south or closer to the coasts in search of snow free areas. Hopefully we will gain a more comprehensive picture in the next few days. Otherwise, a few woodcock still in the southeast have continued moving north.
Update 9 April 2020: Over the past few days we have observed continual migratory movements into Maritime Canada and woodcock are migrating into both western and northern Maine. There has been less movement activity in southern Quebec and Ontario, but locally birds seems to be exploring non-snow covered areas.
A few woodcock that have been stationary in South Carolina, and other states in the southeastern US have initiated migration. So, there are still woodcock in the southeast and they are slowly making their way north. We have also received females with broods in Georgia, Virginia, and even Rhode Island! Two females with failed broods from Virginia began migrating north shortly after loosing them.
A few woodcock that have been stationary in South Carolina, and other states in the southeastern US have initiated migration. So, there are still woodcock in the southeast and they are slowly making their way north. We have also received females with broods in Georgia, Virginia, and even Rhode Island! Two females with failed broods from Virginia began migrating north shortly after loosing them.
Update 6 April 2020: Woodcock are continuing to slowly migrate north, but many birds are encountering snow in the Great Lakes, New England, and southern Canada. We have observed a number of 'reverse migrations' where birds north, then retreat south to avoid snow.
More woodcock are migrating into New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, but are generally restricted to coastal area, due to snow.
A few woodcock marked this past fall have returned to breeding areas west of the Adirondacks and north of Buffalo, both in New York.
More woodcock are migrating into New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, but are generally restricted to coastal area, due to snow.
A few woodcock marked this past fall have returned to breeding areas west of the Adirondacks and north of Buffalo, both in New York.
Update 2 April 2020: Woodcock are still continuing to move north, however the snow pack throughout much of southern Canada is slowing northward progress. The first marked woodcock of the year have arrived in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and for a project first... Manitoba!
We have also received reports of nesting woodcock in Rhode Island, and New York with reports of females with broods in Virginia and Alabama.
We have also received reports of nesting woodcock in Rhode Island, and New York with reports of females with broods in Virginia and Alabama.
Update 30 March 2020: Woodcock are continuing to push north and a number of our marked birds are in southern Ontario and Quebec. More birds have also migrated into Maine and are continuing to follow the melting snow. Interesting, a number of woodcock in Quebec and Ontario have reverse migrated (flown south) after stopping over in relatively deep snow.
We collected a location of a woodcock migrating across the Gulf of Maine. The females left eastern Pennsylvania on the evening of 3/28, and arrived in Maine on 3/29. We do not know how frequently woodcock migration across oceans, but perhaps this behavior is more common the previously believed.
We collected a location of a woodcock migrating across the Gulf of Maine. The females left eastern Pennsylvania on the evening of 3/28, and arrived in Maine on 3/29. We do not know how frequently woodcock migration across oceans, but perhaps this behavior is more common the previously believed.
Update 23 March 2020: Woodcock are still moving north with new birds showing up in New England and the Great lake States. A few woodcock are still on the wintering grounds in GA, SC, NC, VA, and MD, but most have initiated migration. The greatest densities of birds appear to be in NY, PA, CT, NJ, MD, VA, and WV.
Woodcock on the northern extent are encountering snow pack in ME, NH, WI, and norther NY. It is unlikely that birds will continue to move north from these areas, with snow melt and warmer temperatures. However, some birds will likely migrate into snow covered areas, and concentrate activities near lowland seeps or wetlands.
Woodcock on the northern extent are encountering snow pack in ME, NH, WI, and norther NY. It is unlikely that birds will continue to move north from these areas, with snow melt and warmer temperatures. However, some birds will likely migrate into snow covered areas, and concentrate activities near lowland seeps or wetlands.
Update 20 March 2020: Woodcock have continued slowly migrating north over the past few days. A few woodcock have flow as far north as Wisconsin, Maine, and Michigan. More birds are continuing to arrive in southern New England and along the mid-Atlantic. As birds continue to move north they are arriving on the edge of the snow pack and will likely need to wait for the snow to melt before continuing further north.
We still have woodcock marked in Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina that have yet to initiate migration.
We still have woodcock marked in Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina that have yet to initiate migration.
Update 16 March 2020: Woodcock are continuing to leave their wintering areas and migrate north. About 1/3 of the woodcock marked this past winter have initiated migration. Large numbers of birds in the mid-Atlantic region (Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey), with increasing number of birds in Southern New England (New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire) and the Great Lake States (Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, and Illinois).
For a project first, we have recorded stopover locations in Missouri, Iowa, and Oklahoma!
Interestingly, it appears that one woodcock that overwintered in Rhode Island has migrated west into Pennsylvania. We are hoping to confirm this movement with future data and to rule out a data transcription error, but super interesting nonetheless.
For a project first, we have recorded stopover locations in Missouri, Iowa, and Oklahoma!
Interestingly, it appears that one woodcock that overwintered in Rhode Island has migrated west into Pennsylvania. We are hoping to confirm this movement with future data and to rule out a data transcription error, but super interesting nonetheless.
Update 12 March 2020: Woodcock are continuing to migrate into east-central states, with increasing numbers of birds in West Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, and North Carolina. Additional, woodcock are starting to arrive in Great Lake and New England states. Namely, Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Delaware, and Rhode Island.
A handful of woodcock are still on the wintering grounds in Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina. With greater numbers of birds still near capture sites in North Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland.
Regardless woodcock migration is picking up steam and birds are continuing to move further north.
A handful of woodcock are still on the wintering grounds in Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina. With greater numbers of birds still near capture sites in North Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland.
Regardless woodcock migration is picking up steam and birds are continuing to move further north.
Update 9 March 2020: Migration is continuing to pick up steam with additional woodcock migrating into Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New York. Increasing numbers of woodcock this past winter are leaving Alabama, Georgia, and the Carolinas.
Update 4 March 2020: A few more woodcock are starting to initiate migration, however most birds are still at their wintering site. Most notable, a number of woodcock are migrating through western North Carolina. A few additional birds have moved into Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, and even New York.
Update 29 February 2020: Very little migratory movement has occurred in the past week. One woodcock left Georgia and is currently in Delaware, but otherwise most birds have been stationary. We have recently deployed transmitters in South Carolina and Maryland this past week.
We are just waiting on warmer weather to push woodcock north.
We are just waiting on warmer weather to push woodcock north.
Update 21 February 2020: An increasing number of birds have continued to begin their northward migration. Noteworthy this week is a male woodcock marked in Alabama early this month that has migrated north into Missouri. Other birds have moved short distances north out of Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina. Most of our marked birds, however, remain on their wintering areas throughout the southeastern U.S.
We've added newly marked woodcock over the past weeks in Georgia, Alabama, and North Carolina, and we hope to increase that number in the coming weeks in South Carolina and Maryland.
We've added newly marked woodcock over the past weeks in Georgia, Alabama, and North Carolina, and we hope to increase that number in the coming weeks in South Carolina and Maryland.
Update 15 February 2020: We've seen our first instances of early spring migrants moving out of southern wintering areas, including one bird that was marked in Rhode Island last fall, spent the winter in North Carolina, and has moved back to it's breeding area in the Ocean State. A few other birds have made relatively short northbound movements, but remain in southern wintering range. The majority of marked woodcock have not left their wintering areas. We've added 19 new marked woodcock over the past weeks in Georgia and Alabama, and we hope to add to that number in the coming weeks in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Maryland.
Update 17 January 2020: Over the past week, we have had a few more woodcock upload locations and are shown on the map below. Most tags are on battery saving mode and are only uploading locations periodically. We have had 4 woodcock upload locations from Rhode Island and we will have to see if they remain throughout the winter or if they eventually migrate south. Perhaps it will depend on winter weather and how much freezing southern Rhode Island receives.
We documented 3 woodcock moving ~150 km from their initial wintering locations north to new areas. We will have to wait and see if the birds remain in these areas, or if they return to the first area used.
We documented 3 woodcock moving ~150 km from their initial wintering locations north to new areas. We will have to wait and see if the birds remain in these areas, or if they return to the first area used.
Update 10 January 2020: Below is the distribution of woodcock that have uploaded locations in the past 10 days and highlights the wintering range of woodcock marked in Eastern North America. Interestingly about one-third of the woodcock marked in the Eastern Management Region are overwintering in the Central Management Region (Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas).
Update 6 January 2020: Fall migration has largely ended and the next series of project updates will focus on mid-winter movements (movements from one wintering sites to another). All locations shown have been collected beginning January 01. Many transmitters have entered a battery saving mode and will only take intermittent locations throughout the winter, and begin frequent location collection for spring migration. However some tags will continue to collect one location a day until the battery dies.
Most woodcock are currently in states along the Gulf of Mexico and the southern-Atlantic. However, some woodcock are still in the Mid-Atlantic region.
Most woodcock are currently in states along the Gulf of Mexico and the southern-Atlantic. However, some woodcock are still in the Mid-Atlantic region.
End Fall Migration - Begin Mid-winter Movements
Update 30 December 2019: We received a number of data uploads this past weekend but most birds have remained stationary. One woodcock that recently migrated from Nova Scotia into Maine has continued moving south and is currently in New Jersey. We have also received data from two woodcock still in Pennsylvania and three still in Rhode Island. Absolutely fascinating. Locations (points) shown are from the last week, with polylines showing previous fall movements.
Update 27 December 2019: Very little migratory movement observed over the Christmas holiday. A few woodcock moved south primarily in the mid-Atlantic region and one bird crossed the Bay of Fundy from Nova Scotia into Maine. Locations (points) shown are from the last week, with polylines showing previous fall movements.
Update 23 December 2019: A few woodcock are continuing to migrate south, with most migrating birds being captured at stopover sites (e.g., New Jersey). However, some woodcock are still near pre-migratory sites in Rhode Island.
Woodcock locations depicted in the map below are from the past seven days. Note that most birds are in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina with additional birds along the Atlantic Coast (North Carolina, Virginia, New Jersey, and Maryland).
Woodcock locations depicted in the map below are from the past seven days. Note that most birds are in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina with additional birds along the Atlantic Coast (North Carolina, Virginia, New Jersey, and Maryland).
Update 20 December 2019: A few woodcock are still continuing to move further south, but most birds appear to have reached their wintering site. The most recent cold weather snap is expected to push some birds further south, but we will need to wait a few days for birds to upload locations.
Update 16 December 2019: Migration is continuing to slow down throughout most of the mid-continental United States, however some woodcock are still trickling south. There are more woodcock moving south along the Atlantic coast, possibly due to moderated weather along the coast from the Atlantic ocean.
Most notable movements from this past week were the 2 woodcock staging in southern Nova Scotia crossed the Bay of Fundy and Gulf and Maine, arriving in Maine and Massachusetts respectively. Additionally, one of two woodcock still at capture locations in Pennsylvania have initiated migration and there are still at least two woodcock near capture sites in Rhode Island.
A woodcock initially marked in New York has migrated into eastern Texas, just northeast of Houston. Interestingly, she migrated south from New York to coastal Georgia, before flying west to Texas. This is the first record of a bird in our study entering Texas, so we are pretty excited!
Most notable movements from this past week were the 2 woodcock staging in southern Nova Scotia crossed the Bay of Fundy and Gulf and Maine, arriving in Maine and Massachusetts respectively. Additionally, one of two woodcock still at capture locations in Pennsylvania have initiated migration and there are still at least two woodcock near capture sites in Rhode Island.
A woodcock initially marked in New York has migrated into eastern Texas, just northeast of Houston. Interestingly, she migrated south from New York to coastal Georgia, before flying west to Texas. This is the first record of a bird in our study entering Texas, so we are pretty excited!
Update 9 December 2019: The post thanksgiving snow storm that blanketed most of New England in snow caused some woodcock to migrate further south, but some birds are choosing to remain on the snow periphery. At least one woodcock is still in Rhode Island, northwestern Pennsylvania, at least two are still on Nova Scotia! While the majority of these birds are juveniles, there is at least one adult as well.
More woodcock are migrating into South Carolina and Georgia. And there have even been a few strange migrations observed, in which reach south-Atlantic states and then 'j-hook' west to the Gulf Coast states. While only a small number of individuals display this behavior, we have observed it both fall 2018 and 2019.
Crews in New Jersey captured more than 30 woodcock in two nights and deployed 15 transmitters, Nice Job! Crews in Maryland are planning to attempt captures Monday (12/9) and Tuesday (12/10). There should be plenty of birds on the Delmarva peninsula and we are wishing them the best of luck.
More woodcock are migrating into South Carolina and Georgia. And there have even been a few strange migrations observed, in which reach south-Atlantic states and then 'j-hook' west to the Gulf Coast states. While only a small number of individuals display this behavior, we have observed it both fall 2018 and 2019.
Crews in New Jersey captured more than 30 woodcock in two nights and deployed 15 transmitters, Nice Job! Crews in Maryland are planning to attempt captures Monday (12/9) and Tuesday (12/10). There should be plenty of birds on the Delmarva peninsula and we are wishing them the best of luck.
Update 1 December 2019: Very few woodcock have migrated in the past week. Winter storms are predicted to hit most of New England and parts of the mid-Atlantic in the next few days and we expect some of the woodcock in Pennsylvania and Rhode Island to migrate south. Stay tuned!
Update 25 November 2019: Migration is still progressing, with a small number of birds continuing to fly south every few days. However, following large migratory movements 1-2 weeks ago, a large portion of birds have arrived on the wintering grounds and have likely terminated migration.
An increasing proportion of woodcock in Rhode Island, Virginia, and West Virginia have been initiating migration, yet some birds are still near their initial capturing locations. Interestingly, two woodcock are still at their initial capture locations in Northwestern and Northeastern Pennsylvania.
All Woodcock marked in Nova Scotia this fall have initiated migration, but only three have crossed the Gulf of Maine or Bay of Fundy. One Woodcock recently initiated migration from southern Nova Scotia and flew 750 km (466 mi) in a single night to Staten Island, presumably crossing the Gulf of Maine.
An increasing proportion of woodcock in Rhode Island, Virginia, and West Virginia have been initiating migration, yet some birds are still near their initial capturing locations. Interestingly, two woodcock are still at their initial capture locations in Northwestern and Northeastern Pennsylvania.
All Woodcock marked in Nova Scotia this fall have initiated migration, but only three have crossed the Gulf of Maine or Bay of Fundy. One Woodcock recently initiated migration from southern Nova Scotia and flew 750 km (466 mi) in a single night to Staten Island, presumably crossing the Gulf of Maine.
Update 22 November 2019: Woodcock are continuing to arrive on the wintering grounds, with large numbers of birds in Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia. Large numbers of birds have been initiating migration from Rhode Island.
Update 18 November 2019: Large numbers of woodcock are Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Kentucky. More woodcock are continually arriving in Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. Recent winter storms have covered much of norther New England and southern Canada in Snow, forcing the few remaining woodcock south. The first few birds in Rhode Island and West Virginia have initiated migration, but most birds are remaining near their capture sites.
Woodcock marked in Nova Scotia are for the most part still in the province, with only 2 of 6 birds crossing the Bay of Fundy or Gulf of Maine. The remaining birds are either still at the capture site or at stopover sites still on the province. When the woodcock leave (if they do) they will encounter an increasingly snow covered Maine and northern New England.
We recently documented the longest single night migration for the project. A juvenile male flew ~1,000 kilometers or 630 miles in a single flight! And even after that long-distant flight, he made smaller migration journeys the following three nights!
Woodcock marked in Nova Scotia are for the most part still in the province, with only 2 of 6 birds crossing the Bay of Fundy or Gulf of Maine. The remaining birds are either still at the capture site or at stopover sites still on the province. When the woodcock leave (if they do) they will encounter an increasingly snow covered Maine and northern New England.
We recently documented the longest single night migration for the project. A juvenile male flew ~1,000 kilometers or 630 miles in a single flight! And even after that long-distant flight, he made smaller migration journeys the following three nights!
Update 12 November 2019: Large numbers of woodcock are departing from New England and southern Canada. The majority of woodcock in New York have initiated migration and large numbers of migrants are in Pennsylvania, Virginia, and North Carolina. Woodcock have begun reaching their wintering grounds along states bordering the southern Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico.
We have increasingly observed woodcock migrating from Nova Scotia across the Gulf of Maine, however 2 birds are still near the capture site as of 11/12/2019. We are interested to see how long the woodcock remain before migrating south!
We still have not observed any migration initiations from woodcock in Rhode Island, West Virginia, or Virginia, despite large number of birds moving through those states.
We have increasingly observed woodcock migrating from Nova Scotia across the Gulf of Maine, however 2 birds are still near the capture site as of 11/12/2019. We are interested to see how long the woodcock remain before migrating south!
We still have not observed any migration initiations from woodcock in Rhode Island, West Virginia, or Virginia, despite large number of birds moving through those states.
Update 07 November 2019: Most woodcock have left Ontario and Quebec, however we do still have one marked bird in Eastern Quebec that has yet to initiate migration. A second woodcock has left Nova Scotia and appears to have crossed the Gulf of Maine. More woodcock in New York are starting to initiate migration but no marked birds from Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, or West Virginia have.
A handful of woodcock have arrived in North Carolina and Virginia. We do not know if birds are just stopping over or if they are in the process of establishing winter residencies.
A handful of woodcock have arrived in North Carolina and Virginia. We do not know if birds are just stopping over or if they are in the process of establishing winter residencies.
Update 04 November 2019: Woodcock are continuing to migrate from Canada into southern Canada, northern New England, and the Great Lake States. All but two woodcock have initiated migration in Quebec and Ontario and only one of six has initiated migration in Nova Scotia. We observed one woodcock migrating from Southern Nova Scotia across the Gulf of Maine and he is currently in east central Maine.
Few woodcock marked in New England have initiated migration. One woodcock left western New York and is currently in southern Ohio, but few other birds have initiated migration. Cooler weather is moving into New England later this week and we will have to wait and see how birds respond.
Capture crews in Virginia and West Virginia have deployed 16 transmitters in the past two weeks. We are excited to see where these woodcock migrate to and how long migration takes. Stay tuned.
Few woodcock marked in New England have initiated migration. One woodcock left western New York and is currently in southern Ohio, but few other birds have initiated migration. Cooler weather is moving into New England later this week and we will have to wait and see how birds respond.
Capture crews in Virginia and West Virginia have deployed 16 transmitters in the past two weeks. We are excited to see where these woodcock migrate to and how long migration takes. Stay tuned.
Update 31 October 2019: The only new migratory movements documented were birds leaving eastern Quebec. All other marked woodcock have remained at stopover locations or near their capture sites.
Update 27 October 2019: A few birds more birds from eastern Quebec and Nova Scotia have initiated migratory movements in the last few days, but a number of birds remain in these areas as well, so we expect continued movements of birds out of eastern Canada over the coming days/weeks.
Southern migration by resident woodcock in the northeastern U.S. have been minimal, so right now there are likely large numbers of both migrant and resident woodcock present in northern states.
Southern migration by resident woodcock in the northeastern U.S. have been minimal, so right now there are likely large numbers of both migrant and resident woodcock present in northern states.
Update 24 October 2019: Our most recent uploads have confirmed additional birds moving out of Ontario and Quebec on the heels of the major weather system that moved through eastern North America on October 18th. However some marked birds remained in northern areas of Quebec as recently as October 23rd, so we expect further migration events as more birds move into southern Canada and lake states like Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, New York, and Pennsylvania.
So far, southern migration by resident woodcock in the northeastern U.S. have been minimal, and birds marked in Nova Scotia are likewise staying put.
Update 22 October 2019: Woodcock on the norther range extent have started migrating. All birds from eastern Ontario and a sub-sample of woodcock from sites in eastern and western Quebec have initiated migration. Most birds that crossed the Great Lakes, stopped over on off-shore islands immediately before crossing the lakes.
We've also observed one bird from western New York move 200 miles directly west into Michigan
Migration seems to be primarily occurring in Canada, however some shorter distance movements have been observed in both New York and Pennsylvania.
Spring migration during 2019 was fascinating to watch. Of interest and excitement to us, a number of our woodcock marked in the southeast and mid-Atlantic last winter used westerly migration routes, which is relatively uncommon in the literature. Notice the fan-shaped migration coming out of southeastern South Carolina. Another woodcock marked on the eastern shore of Maryland migrated west, across two of the great lakes and is currently in Wisconsin. All locations on the map below were collected during spring migration of 2019. Scroll further down for additional maps from Fall 2018 and from our pilot field season in Fall 2017, and for some examples of interesting woodcock behavior that represent the types of data we will use to address our project research objectives..
This map depicts migration paths of our GPS-tagged American Woodcock as they made their way from wintering areas northward during spring migration. The map includes data from birds marked during September and October 2018 at northern breeding areas, as well as birds marked during winter 2018/19 in southern wintering sites. These data will allow us to characterize important migration routes and stopover sites throughout eastern North America.
This map depicts the migration paths of our satellite-tagged American Woodcock during their fall migrations of 2017 and 2018, color-coded to the state or province in which they were marked. This highlights the significant variation in migration paths taken by individual woodcock captured in the same location. All data were collected during September-December in either 2017 or 2018, and the stopover locations of birds we followed during 2018 are showed below. Map created by Erin Pickett.
