WOODCOCK BREEDING GROUND COUNTS IN CENTRAL-NORTHERN UNITED STATES, 1953 
John W. ‘Aldrich 
U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service 
During the past breeding season we were fortunate in having the mst 
observations on the woodcock that we have had in the three years of this 
_ study in the Central Northern section of the United States--including 
Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. This year a change was made in the 
prescribed method of making the count. This involved counting only those 
birds heard at definite stops during 2 minute listening intervals. To 
obtain this figure all of the birds recorded on all trips over the same 
route were totaled and divided by the total number of stops made on all 
trips. The results were interpreted as average number of birds heard 
per stop.per trip. Because of the change in the methods of making and 
interpreting the counts this year only this year's data are presented 
in table 12 and no effort is made here to compare these with last year's 
results. : 
This year we were fortunate to have an active woodcock investiga- 
tion in progress in the State of Michigan. Lyle K. Blankenship has 
summarized the results of these studies in another paper in this issue 
(p. 41) and has included some comparisons of this year's count with 
last year. They indicated about a 20 percent increase over last year. 
Also Robert A. McCabe in a letter reported an 18 percent increase on 
1,100 acres in Wisconsin over last year. It is hoped that next year a 
substantial number of routes ran this year in all states will be run 
again on the basis used this year and that we will have good comparable 
data for a region wide appraisal. 
Again we gratefully acknowledge the assistance of the conserva- 
tion departments of these three states and to all the observers who 
made the counts and who are listed in table 12. 
Table 12.--Woodcock breedin round counts in central-northern 


region, 1953 
Av. number 
birds 
Locality of route Observer per stop | Inclusive 
per trip dates 
Michigan 
Alger Co.,Shingleton |T.J.Peterle| 17 30 «566 5/13-5/17 
Allegan Co.,Ely L.Rd. {O.L.Haugen | 1 16 062 5/5-5/12 
Allegan 
Allegan Co.,Gables m 2 15 0133 5/4-5/13 
Corners, Allegan 
Et 
