Investigating the timing of peak display and nest initiation of American woodcock in Southwestern Pennsylvania
(Book - Regular Print)

Includes bibliographical references.

In the Eastern U.S, the federal singing-ground survey (SGS) of American woodcock (Scolopax minor) has shown a long term declining trend in the number of singing males per route. Loss of young forest habitat is believed to be the primary driver of this decline. However, there may be a variety of factors unrelated to woodcock demographics that affect the efficacy of the survey and reliability of population indices derived from the survey data. The federal SGS protocol has not substantively changed since its initiation in 1968, including the survey period during which displaying woodcock are tallied (15 April - 5 May in mid-Atlantic latitudes). Limited historic data exists and little is known of the current peak courtship display and nest initiation period of woodcock in Pennsylvania. Recent research in other Northeast states has show earlier arrival of woodcock onto their breeding grounds. By selecting known singing grounds in southwestern Pennsylvania and monitoring the timing of courtship display and nest initiation, we determined the current period of peak display and nest initiation and evaluated if these fall within the federal SGS protocol dates. We followed USFWS SGS protocol with the exception of temperature limits, and conducted a total of 47 surveys on three spate routes from 24 March - 11 May, 2015. Of the three routes surveyed (Route 427, Route 51, and Route 108), we estimated a peak display of 24 March, 28 March, and 7 May respectively. We found that timing varies considerably and does not seem to be strongly related to latitude alone within southwestern Pennsylvania. We used local regression analysis to determine timing of peak display, and a Person correlation coefficient test to determine strength of correlation between number of singing males and noise disturbance. Of the 28 nests and 2 broods that were located, we determined the peak nest initiation to be 10 April and peak hatch to be 1 May. By using Forward Looking Infrared Radar (FLIR) we were able to effectively locate and monitor woodcock nests with little to no disturbance on nesting behavior and success. We searched a total of 59.55 hours and located 28 nests and four broods, two of which were not linked to a previously known nest, resulting in a search efficiency rate of 0.47 nest/hour. This search efficiency rate is more effective than that of pointing dogs, telemetry, and combinations of both. The results of this research provide information needed to properly monitor woodcock population status and trends within Pennsylvania and may have relevance to other mid-Atlantic states within the same or similar SGS survey period (WV, NJ, OH, and parts of MD, DE, IN, IL). Study results also highlight the utility of FLIR as a non-intrusive method for studying nest initiation, nesting behavior, and nest success.