Woodcock singing-ground counts and habitat changes in the northeastern United States

Journal of Wildlife Management
By: , and 

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Abstract

Aerial photography from the late 1960's and the late 1970's was used to study habitat changes along 78 American woodcock (Scolopax minor) singing-ground routes in 9 northeastern states. The most noticeable changes were declines in the amount of abandoned field, cropland, shrubland, and field/pasture. The amount of land in the urban/industrial type increased 33.4% from the late 1960's to the late 1970's. We examined relationships between the woodcock call-count index and habitat variables using multiple-regression techniques. The abundance of calling male woodcock was positively correlated with the amount of abandoned field and alder (Alnus sp.) and negatively correlated with the amount of urban/industrial type. However, only the change in the urban/industrial type was significantly (P < 0.05) related to the change in the call-count index. Urban/industrial area increased, whereas the call-count index declined on average in our sample of routes by 1.4 birds/route (40.5%).

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Publication type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Title Woodcock singing-ground counts and habitat changes in the northeastern United States
Series title Journal of Wildlife Management
DOI 10.2307/3808612
Volume 47
Issue 3
Year Published 1983
Language English
Publisher Wiley
Contributing office(s) Patuxent Wildlife Research Center
Description 8 p.
First page 772
Last page 779
Country United States
State Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont
Other Geospatial northeastern United States
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