Re: [Maine-birds] Woodcock

As others have said there was a single woodcock here in Stoneham a month or so ago. I too have noticed a lack of bugs, there also don't seem to be as many wasps/hornets/yellow jackets as in previous years...

As far as more mature forests in New England, a quick look at the interactive map on Global Forest Watch ( http://bit.ly/2oQqR2P  ) shows how much of Maine's/Northern NH forests continued to fall in the last 14 years. Pink dots show Tree Cover Loss between 2001 and 2015 that is large enough to be able to be recognized from satellite photos and can also include development and/or land clearing for farming, 

Maine is a sea of pink (Canada is even worse, the Southeast US is almost solid pink, parts of Central and South America where some of our migrants go are also pink)...you can look all over the world to see what is happening. They have numerous drop down boxes that you can change what is being displayed.., including showing Tree Cover Growth in blue.very powerful tool.

I've checked the logging that I know is happening on the WMNF and they're spot on with representing what is actually happening on the ground, you can clearly see the clearcuts and some of the larger group selects that I know are there..."big data" at work I guess.

There is a historical timeline which goes back to 2001 and shows the changes up to 2015. Click the "Play" arrow next to the timeline at the bottom of the page to see the pink dots "blossom".

On Wednesday, April 26, 2017 at 9:07:41 AM UTC-4, BAB wrote:

Thanks, it's nice to hear others are hearing woodcock doing their mating dance.  However, it would take observations in the same area for 20 years or more to determine is there has been a local decline in it's numbers.  Added here is a comment on conservation status from Cornell.  It could be New England is seeing a resurgence of more mature forests instead of the "edge" and shrubby fields preferred by the woodcock for breeding.  However the comment about pesticides is of concern.  Thirty years ago in Maine, one would get bug-spots on one's windshield while driving.  When was the last time you had to clean a bug-spot?  Thanks again to respondents.

Conservation

status via IUCN

Least Concern

The American Woodcock is fairly numerous, although it is hard to detect with standardized surveys like the North American Breeding Bird Survey or Christmas Bird Count. Best estimates from the Breeding Bird Survey suggest their populations have slowly been declining between 1966 and 2014; declines are most evident in New England, parts of the Mid-Atlantic, and Minnesota. This species is on the 2014 State of the Birds Watch List, which lists species most in danger of extinction without significant conservation action. Woodcocks are one of the few shorebirds that are still hunted. Hunting tolls have declined from about 1.5 million per year in the 1970s to about 300,000 per year in the 2010s. Hunting has not been shown to influence large-scale population trends; recent declines may be related to natural forest succession combined with habitat loss due to development. Because they forage on the forest floor, woodcocks can accumulate pesticides in their bodies from aerial spraying against forest-insect pests. Their heavy diet of earthworms makes them vulnerable to poisoning by lead, cadmium, and other heavy metals. To prevent further population declines, people may need to focus on preserving even-aged habitats suitable for breeding, including large areas of shrubland and young forest. Woodcocks may be extending their range northward and westward, using northern coniferous forests that are being opened up by large-scale harvesting.

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