Research

Our project seeks to better understand American woodcock migration throughout eastern North America. We kicked off our pilot season in Fall 2017 when we marked 6 woodcock with satellite transmitters in Maine prior to fall migration. These tags weigh between 4 and 7 grams and will periodically send us data on each woodcock's location and status (live or dead) as it makes it fall migration to the southeastern US. You can download annual progress reports from the project at the links below.

Year 2 Report.pdf
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Year 1 Report.pdf
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Beginning in the fall of 2018, we worked with project partners across the eastern United States and Canada to mark birds with satellite transmitters throughout their breeding and wintering range. Using these GPS tags, we will monitor woodcock during both spring and fall migration. We are principally interested in determining:

when woodcock initiate migration
how long it takes individuals to complete migration
survival during migration
stopover sites where woodcock rest and refuel during migration.

Check out our migration page for the current status of our marked birds and examples of data we are collecting during migration.

Map of participating states and provinces (dark gray) where we have marked American woodcock with GPS transmitters. Additional sites that we will add in 2019 and beyond include Florida, Alabama, Georgia, West Virginia, and Nova Scotia.