Migration
01 December 2023
The last few days have been relatively quiet for our birds, with NS-2023-13, 14 and 15 all remaining stationary in New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut respectively.
However, NS-2023-16 seems to have finally caught the migration bug, and overnight from 11/29 to 11/30 moved about 50km southwest from his location near Cobequid Bay, NS. It seems he'll soon follow the other males in making an overwater crossing to the US. Stay tuned for further details on his progress!
27 November 2023 (updated 28 Nov.)
More action from our Nova Soctia birds! We caught another 2 of them over the water in the last few days:
- NS-2023-14 moved on from Halifax on the evening of 11/21, crossed over the Bay of Fundy and took a one day stopover northeast of Acadia National Park. The evening of 11/23, he kept moving, and we caught him at 3 different points off the coast of Maine! He's been stationary in central Rhode Island the last several days.
- NS-2023-13 remained stationary south of his capture site until the evening of 11/24. The evening of 11/25 he was flew southwest and stopped for the night near Lake Rossignol. Last night (evening of 11/26) he was on the move again, starting to cross the Gulf of Maine near Yarmouth, seemingly on a similar trajectory as NS-2023-15. We are eagerly awaiting more data from this bird!
UPDATE 28 Nov: NS-2023-13 flew due west across the Gulf of Maine yesterday, and made landfall near Portland, ME. This morning he is on the ground in southern New Hampshire.
In our interactive mapping tool below, you can view woodcock locations for a specific range of dates by toggling the slider. During periods of major migration in the Fall (Oct 15-Dec 15) and Spring (Mar 1 through mid-May) we update the database regularly, but given transmitter upload frequencies we expect about a +/- 3-day precision on our location data. Learn more about how our transmitter technology functions on our research page.
Fall 2023 Archive
Previous weeks' updates for 2023 Fall season is below. For updates prior to October 2023, see our Migration Archives dropdown menu (under the Migration tab above), or visit our data exploration page to visualize previous years' migration data yourself.
22 November 2023.
On the evening of 11/20, we captured our first overwater crossing of 2023!
- NS-2023-15 took off from north of Yarmouth, NS, was midway over the Gulf of Maine just before midnight on 11/20, and by 24 hours later (the evening of 11/21), he was securly in northeast Connecticut, USA.
- NS-2023-14 also made a migratory movement, flying 75km from Murchyville, NS, passing over Halifax, and arriving in the West Commons area by 11/22.
17 November 2023.
The birds we tagged in Nova Scotia one month ago are starting to check in! The birds run the gamut of being stationary, making short (<20km) movements, and in the case of NS-2023-15, beginning to make migratory movements.
- NS-2023-16 moved 15km northwest of his tagging site, and is near Cobequid Bay, NS.
- NS-2023-14 moved 10km southeast from his tagging site to Murchyville, NS.
- The most impressive movement was from NS-2023-15, who was stationary north of Stewaicke, NS, as of 11/15. By 11/16, he moved more than 300km to the (south)western coast, and by 11/17 was 20km directly north of Yarmouth, NS!
- WI-2023-02, a second year male, was stationary at his tagging site, Buena Vista Marsh in central Wisconsin, as of 11/15.
14 November 2023.
The last few weeks have mostly been quiet, as our New York and West Virginia transmitters deployed in Spring 2023 (mostly) remain dormant. We expect a lot of activity in the coming month, however, as the Nova Scotia transmitters deployed last month are set to begin taking nightly locations this week. Stay tuned, this page will be updated at least weekly as this data comes in!
We did have a couple check-ins in the last few weeks, as follows:
- NY-2023-49 checked in on 11/1 from Allegany State Park in southwestern New York.
- WI-2023-01 checked in again, and made some big moves! On October 26, this female was still stationary at Blackhoof River Wildlife Management Area in Minnesota, but by November 5, she moved more than 1000km south to southeastern Oklahoma!
26 October 2023.
The last several weeks have been busy for the humans involved in this project, preparing for and traveling to Nova Scotia for another round of fall deployments there. In contrast to last year, when the province was in drought, this year was WET! This wet weather increased suitable habitat for woodcock (great for the birds!), which means their density across the landscape and at particular sites (such as the one in Pleasant Valley) is much lower (making captures more challenging).
Due to very low activity at the Pleasant Valley site, we established a new site about 30 minutes south, and also used spotlighting to capture birds in a nearby blown down grain field. We captured 6 birds in total, and deployed GPS units on 5 of them (all males). These units are programmed to gather data about the routes woodcock use to leave the province starting in mid-November (see the October 2 update for more information).
WI-2023-01 checked in again, and was stationary at Blackhoof River Wildlife Management Area in Minnesota from October 6 - 21. All other birds' units remain dormant.
02 October 2023.
We are now past mid-September, our project's unofficial start of the "Fall" season!
Fittingly, one of our birds tagged in Wisconsin in May 2023, WI-2023-01, checked in yesterday! We last heard from this second year female on June 29, when she was about 75km northwest of Duluth, Minnesota. Yesterday, she was about 50km due west of Duluth. We look forward to seeing where she goes next!
In case you've missed our most recent updates, several of us will be heading to Nova Scotia in a couple of weeks to deploy another batch of GPS units on woodcock in the province. We're hoping to capture more data on the routes the birds use in their fall migrations, specifically looking at crossings of the Bay of Fundy and Gulf of Maine. More details soon!
On the evening of 11/20, we captured our first overwater crossing of 2023!
- NS-2023-15 took off from north of Yarmouth, NS, was midway over the Gulf of Maine just before midnight on 11/20, and by 24 hours later (the evening of 11/21), he was securly in northeast Connecticut, USA.
- NS-2023-14 also made a migratory movement, flying 75km from Murchyville, NS, passing over Halifax, and arriving in the West Commons area by 11/22.
17 November 2023.
The birds we tagged in Nova Scotia one month ago are starting to check in! The birds run the gamut of being stationary, making short (<20km) movements, and in the case of NS-2023-15, beginning to make migratory movements.
- NS-2023-16 moved 15km northwest of his tagging site, and is near Cobequid Bay, NS.
- NS-2023-14 moved 10km southeast from his tagging site to Murchyville, NS.
- The most impressive movement was from NS-2023-15, who was stationary north of Stewaicke, NS, as of 11/15. By 11/16, he moved more than 300km to the (south)western coast, and by 11/17 was 20km directly north of Yarmouth, NS!
- WI-2023-02, a second year male, was stationary at his tagging site, Buena Vista Marsh in central Wisconsin, as of 11/15.
14 November 2023.
The last few weeks have mostly been quiet, as our New York and West Virginia transmitters deployed in Spring 2023 (mostly) remain dormant. We expect a lot of activity in the coming month, however, as the Nova Scotia transmitters deployed last month are set to begin taking nightly locations this week. Stay tuned, this page will be updated at least weekly as this data comes in!
We did have a couple check-ins in the last few weeks, as follows:
- NY-2023-49 checked in on 11/1 from Allegany State Park in southwestern New York.
- WI-2023-01 checked in again, and made some big moves! On October 26, this female was still stationary at Blackhoof River Wildlife Management Area in Minnesota, but by November 5, she moved more than 1000km south to southeastern Oklahoma!
26 October 2023.
The last several weeks have been busy for the humans involved in this project, preparing for and traveling to Nova Scotia for another round of fall deployments there. In contrast to last year, when the province was in drought, this year was WET! This wet weather increased suitable habitat for woodcock (great for the birds!), which means their density across the landscape and at particular sites (such as the one in Pleasant Valley) is much lower (making captures more challenging).
Due to very low activity at the Pleasant Valley site, we established a new site about 30 minutes south, and also used spotlighting to capture birds in a nearby blown down grain field. We captured 6 birds in total, and deployed GPS units on 5 of them (all males). These units are programmed to gather data about the routes woodcock use to leave the province starting in mid-November (see the October 2 update for more information).
WI-2023-01 checked in again, and was stationary at Blackhoof River Wildlife Management Area in Minnesota from October 6 - 21. All other birds' units remain dormant.
02 October 2023.
We are now past mid-September, our project's unofficial start of the "Fall" season!
Fittingly, one of our birds tagged in Wisconsin in May 2023, WI-2023-01, checked in yesterday! We last heard from this second year female on June 29, when she was about 75km northwest of Duluth, Minnesota. Yesterday, she was about 50km due west of Duluth. We look forward to seeing where she goes next!
In case you've missed our most recent updates, several of us will be heading to Nova Scotia in a couple of weeks to deploy another batch of GPS units on woodcock in the province. We're hoping to capture more data on the routes the birds use in their fall migrations, specifically looking at crossings of the Bay of Fundy and Gulf of Maine. More details soon!