Sources of variation in survival and recovery rates of American Woodcock

All bandings and recoveries of American woodcock (Scolopax minor) since the last similar investigation of survival and recovery rates were examined for this study. The previous parameter estimates from the Eastern Region were augmented with 4 years of bandings. Banding effort in the Central Region was sufficient to conduct analyses for the 5 years after the previous analyses. Females generally had higher survival rates than males but recovery rates were not different. Adults had higher survival rates and lower recovery rates than young. Recovery rates, but not survival rates, were variable over time. Survival rates of woodcock from the Eastern Region were lower and recovery rates were higher compared to the Central Region. The calculated rate of population increase (h) for the Eastern Region (0.89) indicates that survival rates will need to be increased before the current population decline can be reversed. Poor data sets hampered our ability to draw strong conclusions.