US Fish & Wildlife Service
Date of this Version
2010
Citation
D.J. Case and Associates (editor). 2010. Priority Information Needs for American Woodcock: A Funding Strategy. Developed for the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies by the Migratory Shore and Upland Game Bird Support Task Force. 16pp.
Abstract
Table of Contents
Executive Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Status of American Woodcock . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . 1
Priority Information Needs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Priority 1. Develop a demographic-based model for assessing American woodcock population response to harvest and habitat management . . . . . . 6
Priority 2. Develop communication strategies to increase support for policies and practices that benefit American woodcock and other wildlife of young forests . . . 7
Priority 3. Improve understanding of migration, breeding, and wintering habitat quality for American woodcock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Priority 4. Improve the Singing-ground Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Measuring Success . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Literature Cited . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Appendix A: 2009 Workshop Participants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Figure 1. American woodcock management regions, breeding range, and Singing-ground Survey coverage and winter range . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Figure 2. Annual indices of the number of woodcock heard singing on the Singing-ground Survey, 1968-2009 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Figure 3.Weighted annual indices of woodcock recruitment for the U.S. portion of the Eastern and Central Management Regions, 1963-2008 . . . . . . . . . 4
Figure 4. Estimated woodcock harvest in the United States, 1968-2008 . . . . . 5