migration
18 March 2024.
Our birds are on the move again! A second bird, coincidentally LA-2024-61, a young male, has joined LA-2024-60 in eastern Ontario. By March 14th, adult male LA-2024-46 was in central Wisconsin, and young female LA-2024-39 and young male LA-2024-55 both moved into the lower peninsula of Michigan, with 55 looking poised to fly across Lake Huron into Ontario. One of the last few birds in Louisiana, young female LA-2024-66, jumped over Arkansas and into southern Illinois by March 14th.
14 March 2024.
One big movement to report from our birds over the last few days: LA-2024-52, an adult male stopping over in Iowa for at least 13 days, made a jump up to northern Minnesota, near Duluth, by March 11! This means he overtakes LA-2024-60 (in eastern Ontario also as of March 11) as our current northernmost bird during spring migration!
In our interactive mapping tool below, you can view woodcock locations for a specific range of dates (up to a year prior) 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.
Spring 2024 Archive
Previous weeks' updates for 2024 Spring migration are below. For updates prior to Dec. 15 2023, see our Recent Migration and Migration Archives dropdown menus (under the Migration tab above), or visit our data exploration page to visualize previous years' migration data yourself.
11 March 2024.
We have not received any additional check-ins from our tagged birds over the last few days. This is expected, however, as these GPS tags are programmed to collect data at a less frequent rate than in previous seasons. We expect to see more data coming in later this week, stay tuned!
In other news, last night one of our colleagues heard a woodcock displaying near Orono, Maine - keep your eyes and ears open around dusk and dawn, they may be arriving near you soon!
08 March 2024.
Most of our birds remained stationary since March 6th. Our young males have been busy moving north, perhaps trying to catch ambitious females like LA-2024-60, or young female LA-2024-39, who recently moved north into central Illinois! Young males with recent movements include LA-2024-50 moving near Harrisburg Pennsylvania, and both LA-2024-55 and 61 moving into central Indiana.
06 March 2024.
A few more moves from our birds, with adult female LA-2024-60 pushing all the way to eastern Ontario, almost into Quebec! In contrast to this, LA-2024-35 has moved a little further south, back into Oklahoma. Most other birds that checked in since March 4th have remained stationary.
04 March 2024.
Our birds are continuing to push north, with several more moving into the Midwest (Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio), and an additional bird moving into both West Virginia and Pennsylvania. Males, females, young and adult birds are all on their way to their breeding grounds, making moves of hundreds of kilometers between stopover locations. We seem to have about equal numbers of birds moving towards Central and Eastern Management Regions, though some are making movements directly east rather than north/northeast (e.g. LA-2024-58's recent movement, the start of LA-2024-53's migration).
26 February 2024.
Most birds are now on the move, and moving north quickly! At least half a dozen are in Kentucky & Tennessee, two in Missouri, and one each in West Virginia, Indiana, and Illinois. Most of these are males, but a few our recently tagged females are also making moves north, with a couple in Kentucky and Arkansas, and one each in Mississippi and Missouri. Of note, LA-2024-35, moved north before all the other females, within the first week of February, into Oklahoma, and only recently moved slightly southward into Arkansas.
22 February 2024.
Our most recent data indicate a couple more woodcock have migrated! Both birds are young females (this is their first breeding season); one moved about 300km into central Mississippi, and the other about 750km into southeast Missouri.
20 February 2024.
Our birds are on the move! Of the 37 birds we tagged, all but one have checked in, and 13 have moved >100km from their tagging sites! These birds are currently in Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, and northern Louisiana. Check out their movements below, and check back over the next few weeks for more frequent updates on these and the other birds' migratory progress!
05 February 2024.
Of the 37 birds tagged in Louisiana in early January, 25 have checked in, and all but one remain stationary at their tagging sites. One adult male moved from his tagging site in east-central Louisiana to northwestern Alabama between February 1 and 4, a distance of about 500km!
A few birds tagged in the spring in West Virginia and New York also checked in, though only a few provided location data, from southern Virginia, Arkansas, and Florida.
23 January 2024.
Welcome to the first movement update of 2024! The week of January 8, we visited Louisiana and with the help of the Louisiana DNR, deployed 37 tags in three nights, a project record! Most of those birds will begin regularly checking in the first week of February, as will birds tagged last spring in New York and West Virginia. Stay tuned for those regular updates!
We did have a few more check-ins from NS-2023-16, who apparently did not feel the need to leave southwest Nova Scotia. His last check-in was January 5, in the same area about 500 meters from the ocean! The area had not received much snow up to that point, which may be why he lingered there so long. We have not received any further updates, and thus expect the GPS battery is depleted.
We have not received any additional check-ins from our tagged birds over the last few days. This is expected, however, as these GPS tags are programmed to collect data at a less frequent rate than in previous seasons. We expect to see more data coming in later this week, stay tuned!
In other news, last night one of our colleagues heard a woodcock displaying near Orono, Maine - keep your eyes and ears open around dusk and dawn, they may be arriving near you soon!
08 March 2024.
Most of our birds remained stationary since March 6th. Our young males have been busy moving north, perhaps trying to catch ambitious females like LA-2024-60, or young female LA-2024-39, who recently moved north into central Illinois! Young males with recent movements include LA-2024-50 moving near Harrisburg Pennsylvania, and both LA-2024-55 and 61 moving into central Indiana.
06 March 2024.
A few more moves from our birds, with adult female LA-2024-60 pushing all the way to eastern Ontario, almost into Quebec! In contrast to this, LA-2024-35 has moved a little further south, back into Oklahoma. Most other birds that checked in since March 4th have remained stationary.
04 March 2024.
Our birds are continuing to push north, with several more moving into the Midwest (Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio), and an additional bird moving into both West Virginia and Pennsylvania. Males, females, young and adult birds are all on their way to their breeding grounds, making moves of hundreds of kilometers between stopover locations. We seem to have about equal numbers of birds moving towards Central and Eastern Management Regions, though some are making movements directly east rather than north/northeast (e.g. LA-2024-58's recent movement, the start of LA-2024-53's migration).
26 February 2024.
Most birds are now on the move, and moving north quickly! At least half a dozen are in Kentucky & Tennessee, two in Missouri, and one each in West Virginia, Indiana, and Illinois. Most of these are males, but a few our recently tagged females are also making moves north, with a couple in Kentucky and Arkansas, and one each in Mississippi and Missouri. Of note, LA-2024-35, moved north before all the other females, within the first week of February, into Oklahoma, and only recently moved slightly southward into Arkansas.
22 February 2024.
Our most recent data indicate a couple more woodcock have migrated! Both birds are young females (this is their first breeding season); one moved about 300km into central Mississippi, and the other about 750km into southeast Missouri.
20 February 2024.
Our birds are on the move! Of the 37 birds we tagged, all but one have checked in, and 13 have moved >100km from their tagging sites! These birds are currently in Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, and northern Louisiana. Check out their movements below, and check back over the next few weeks for more frequent updates on these and the other birds' migratory progress!
05 February 2024.
Of the 37 birds tagged in Louisiana in early January, 25 have checked in, and all but one remain stationary at their tagging sites. One adult male moved from his tagging site in east-central Louisiana to northwestern Alabama between February 1 and 4, a distance of about 500km!
A few birds tagged in the spring in West Virginia and New York also checked in, though only a few provided location data, from southern Virginia, Arkansas, and Florida.
23 January 2024.
Welcome to the first movement update of 2024! The week of January 8, we visited Louisiana and with the help of the Louisiana DNR, deployed 37 tags in three nights, a project record! Most of those birds will begin regularly checking in the first week of February, as will birds tagged last spring in New York and West Virginia. Stay tuned for those regular updates!
We did have a few more check-ins from NS-2023-16, who apparently did not feel the need to leave southwest Nova Scotia. His last check-in was January 5, in the same area about 500 meters from the ocean! The area had not received much snow up to that point, which may be why he lingered there so long. We have not received any further updates, and thus expect the GPS battery is depleted.