scholarly journals American Woodcock Migration Ecology Factors Influencing Departure Rates and Habitat Selection at Cape May, New Jersey

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
New Jersey ◽  
Habitat Selection ◽  
American Woodcock ◽  
Factors Influencing

Migratory status determines resource selection by American Woodcock at an important fall stopover, Cape May, New Jersey

The Condor ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian B Allen ◽  
Daniel G McAuley ◽  
Erik J Blomberg
Keyword(s):  
New Jersey ◽  
Land Cover ◽  
Classification Accuracy ◽  
Resource Selection ◽  
Radio Telemetry ◽  
Stopover Site ◽  
Land Cover Types ◽  
American Woodcock ◽  
Landscape Characteristics ◽  
Wetland Forest

Abstract Migration is a period of high activity and exposure during which risks and energetic demand on individuals may be greater than during nonmigratory periods. Stopover locations can help mitigate these threats by providing supplemental energy en route to the animal’s end destination. Effective conservation of migratory species therefore requires an understanding of use of space that provides resources to migratory animals at stopover sites. We conducted a radio-telemetry study of a short-distance migrant, the American Woodcock (Scolopax minor), at an important stopover site, the Cape May Peninsula, New Jersey. Our objectives were to describe land-cover types used by American Woodcock and evaluate home range habitat selection for individuals that stopover during fall migration and those that choose to overwinter. We radio-marked 271 individuals and collected 1,949 locations from these birds (0–21 points individual–1) over 4 yr (2010 to 2013) to inform resource selection functions of land-cover types and other landscape characteristics by this species. We evaluated these relationships at multiple spatial extents for (1) birds known to have ultimately left the peninsula (presumed migrants), and (2) birds known to have remained on the peninsula into the winter (presumed winter residents). We found that migrants selected deciduous wetland forest, agriculture, mixed shrub, coniferous wetland forest, and coniferous shrub, while wintering residents selected deciduous wetland forest, coniferous shrub, and deciduous shrub. We used these results to develop predictive models of potential habitat: 7.80% of the peninsula was predicted to be potential stopover habitat for American Woodcock (95% classification accuracy) and 4.96% of the peninsula was predicted to be potential wintering habitat (85% classification accuracy). Our study is the first to report habitat relationships for migratory American Woodcock in the coastal U.S. and provides important spatial tools for local and regional managers to support migratory and winter resident woodcock populations into the future.

Factors Influencing Habitat Selection by Arboreal Pit Vipers

2013 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-26
Author(s):  
Nitin S. Sawant ◽  
Trupti D. Jadhav
Keyword(s):  
Habitat Selection ◽  
Factors Influencing

Landscape context matters when American Woodcock select singing grounds: Results from a reciprocal transplant experiment

The Condor ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 121 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen J Brenner ◽  
Bill Buffum ◽  
Brian C Tefft ◽  
Scott R McWilliams
Keyword(s):  
Habitat Selection ◽  
Rhode Island ◽  
Breeding Season ◽  
Resource Selection ◽  
Selection Function ◽  
Reciprocal Transplant ◽  
Transplant Experiment ◽  
High Likelihood ◽  
Reciprocal Transplant Experiment ◽  
American Woodcock

Abstract The multiscale nature of habitat selection during the breeding season for migratory birds means that core-use areas (e.g., breeding territories) are selected based on their local habitat features, but these may also be influenced in some way by features within a larger-scale landscape. We conducted a reciprocal transplant experiment to test the hypothesis that habitat selection and movements of male American Woodcock (Scolopax minor) in core-use areas during the breeding season depend on the perceived quality of the surrounding landscape. We captured second-year male woodcocks (n = 19) at high- or low-likelihood of use landscapes in Rhode Island, USA, affixed each with a radio transmitter, relocated them to the opposite type of landscape, and then determined if they returned to their original site of capture or remained in the landscape to which they were relocated. Birds captured in high-likelihood landscapes and moved to low-likelihood landscapes generally returned to their original high-likelihood landscape (5/7, 71%), but birds captured in low-likelihood landscapes and moved to high-likelihood landscapes rarely returned to their original low-likelihood landscape (1/12, 8%). These results support the hypothesis that woodcock assess their surroundings relatively rapidly and subsequently make critical settlement decisions based on landscape composition. Given that woodcock choice is predicted by the woodcock-specific resource selection function, these results also provide support for the use of this tool to guide forest management for woodcock.

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