US Fish & Wildlife Service
Date of this Version
2010
Citation
Cooper, T.R., and K. Parker. 2010. American woodcock population status, 2010. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Laurel, Maryland. 16 pp.
Abstract
Singing-ground Survey data for 2010 indicate that indices for singing American woodcock (Scolopax minor) males in the Eastern and Central Management Regions are not significantly different from 2009. There was no significant 10-year trend for woodcock heard in the Eastern Management Region during 2000-10. This marks the seventh consecutive year that the 10-year trend estimate was not significant in the Eastern Region. The 10-year trend in the Central Management Region showed a significant decline. Both regions have a long-term (1968-10) declining trend of -1.0 % per year. The 2009 recruitment index for the U.S. portion of the Eastern Region (1.5 immatures per adult female) was 8.6 % lower than the 2008 index and 11.5 % below the long-term regional index, while the recruitment index for the U.S. portion of the Central Region (1.2 immatures per adult female) was 20.3 % lower than the 2008 index and was 25.6 % lower than the long-term regional index. Estimates from the Harvest Information Program indicated that U.S. woodcock hunters in the Eastern Region spent 178,000 days afield and harvested 63,300 woodcock during the 2009-10 season, while in the Central Region, hunters spent 322,300 days afield and harvested 175,100 woodcock.