Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units Program: Minnesota
Education, Research and Technical Assistance for Managing Our Natural Resources

American woodcock are a species of management concern, having experience population declines across much of their eastern North American breeding distribution. The Singing-ground Survey (SGS) is the primary mechanism by which American woodcock populations are monitored, although there remain questions about factors that influence counts on surveys. We are assessing factors that influence the reliability and precision of Singing-ground Surveys to estimate American woodcock population trends by 1) estimating detectability of woodcock using current sampling protocol, repeated (occupancy) sampling of a subsample of survey routes, assessing detectability based on video or telemetry to refine conditions under which woodcock are detectable, double observer assessment of detectability, and observer variability by repeating survey routes to assess detection probability through time, and (2) comparing woodcock density along SGS survey routes with randomly-located experimental routes in adjacent areas to directly assess whether counts on existing routes adequately represent the larger landscape. Results of this study can be used to refine survey protocol to better track woodcock abundance.