WOODCOCK IN SOUTH LOUISIANA DURING THE FREEZE OF 
JANUARY-FEBRUARY, 1951 
John Lynch 
U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service 
Unusually cold weather swept Louisiana during the last week in 
January 1951. As a result, many woodcock were frozen out of their 
normal inland wintering range, and forced to move to the coastal 
parishes. The last time this occurred, during the freeze of January 
1940, woodcock suffered serious reduction in numbers due to starvation 
and illegal hunting on the Louisiana coast. At the start of the 1951 
freeze these birds seemed to be faced with a similar disaster. 
The 1951 Freeze 
A vigorous Cold Front moved into Louisiana on January 29. How- 
ever, a residual pressure system along the Gulf slowed its forward 
motion to such an extent that it took days for the front to cross 
the State. This front was accompanied by a wide area of precipitation, 
and backed by a very cold air mass. Much of this region experienced 
2 days of freezing rain, followed by snow. At time of frontal passage, 
many stations reported the anomaly of severe thunderstorms with heavy 
snowfall. 
Freezing temperatures were felt for 5 consecutive days along most 
of the Louisiana coast. Only the extreme southeastern portion escaped. 
Temperatures dropped below 10° F. in the central and northern part of 
the State during this period, and Shreveport recorded a law of 3° above 
zero. Much of the normal wintering range of woodcock was blanketed by 
ice and snow. The weather moderated on February 3, and there have been 
no serious freezes since that time. 
Weather records show that this cold wave, while it lasted, was as 
severe as the disastrous freeze of 190. Fortunately it was not so 
prolonged as the latter. Comparison of records shows (See table 1) 
that the critical period of the 1951 freeze lasted only 6 days (January 
29 to February 3), whereas the freeze of 1940 persisted for 19 days. 
Response of Woodcock 
Normally, woodcock are not common in the coastal parishes of 
Louisiana... On January 30 of this year, however, they began appearing 
in numbers in wooded areas in Vermilion and Iberia Parishes, and by 
February 2 they were reported at Cheniere au Tigre, an island on the 
shores of the Gulf, separated from the mainland by a 30-mile strip of 
coastal marsh. | 
