WOODCOCK POPULATION TRENDS 
Two major surveys are conducted in eastern North America 
each year to obtain information about the population status 
of American woodcock. The first, a singing-ground survey, 
is conducted each spring in most States and Provinces where 
woodcock nest. The purpose of this survey is to obtain an 
index of breeding population size. The second is a wing- 
collection survey conducted during the hunting season to 
obtain (1) an index of reproductive success, (2) information 
concerning size and distribution of the kill, (3) information 
on the frequency of various bag sizes, and (4) an estimate of 
the number of days individuals hunt woodcock. 
Singing-ground survey Each spring male woodcock engage 
in courtship activity at dawn and at dusk. This performance 
consists primarily of characteristic ground calls ("peents") 
and aerial wing and vocal sounds ("flight songs") emitted 
from grassy openings among shrubs or trees. Such openings 
are called singing-grounds, and the count of male woodcock 
utilizing them is the only practical method known for deter¬ 
mining the status of the breeding population. More than 400 
singing-ground survey routes are conducted each spring by 
cooperators scattered throughout eastern North America. 
In counting, the cooperator travels by car to predeter¬ 
mined listening points (stops) at least 0.4 mile apart along 
a route previously selected. Counts are usually conducted 
on warm, windless evenings beginning 5 to 30 minutes after 
sunset (depending on the amount of cloud cover) and ending 
35 minutes later. Routes are normally 3 to 4 miles long with 
the number of stops depending on the amount of suitable wood¬ 
cock habitat. Counts of 2 minutes' duration are made at the 
same stops each spring, and at each, the number of different 
"singing" male woodcock is recorded. The average number of 
woodcock heard per route (on comparable routes conducted in 
2 consecutive years) is used as an index to the size of the 
breeding population. This figure weights each route in pro¬ 
portion to the number of "singing" males present. It is 
preferable to average woodcock heard per stop for each route, 
which gives each route equal weight, even though some routes 
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