Daniel G. McAuley Eric L. Derleth Thomas J. Dwyer 1983 <p>Aerial photography from the late 1960's and the late 1970's was used to study habitat changes along 78 American woodcock (<i>Scolopax minor</i>) 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 (<i>Alnus</i> sp.) and negatively correlated with the amount of urban/industrial type. However, only the change in the urban/industrial type was significantly (P &lt; 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%).</p> application/pdf 10.2307/3808612 en Wiley Woodcock singing-ground counts and habitat changes in the northeastern United States article