Project Timberdoodle: Statewide American Woodcock Survey

March 29, 2018 5:51 pm

By: Tim Studebaker

KINGSTON, R.I. – As the nation gears up for the 2020 census, Rhode Island is getting ready for a different kind of population count.

It’s a bird with many silly nicknames, but there’s nothing silly about a recent drop in its population. It’s the American Woodcock.

URI Graduate Research Assistant Erin Harrington says, “It’s funny looking. It has short legs. It’s a little bit chunky around the edges.”

It’s a bird that can be found all around Rhode Island, but its numbers are declining. Harrington says that’s because we’re losing what’s called young forest land.

Harrington says, “Young forest has these particular characteristics like shrubby areas, really short young trees, a lot of open area.”

The Rhode Island DEM and URI want to find out where the birds are living, and where they aren’t, so they know how to better manage that young forest land. They want your help with a census of sorts.

Once you’ve gone through the training, it’s actually a pretty easy gig. You don’t even have to get out of the car. They tell you where to go and when, and you just roll down your windows and listen.

Harrington says, “As I like to say it makes arguably the silliest sounding mating call known to mankind.”

They need people to listen for the birds on a very particular schedule in late April and early May.

Harrington says, “As soon as the sun sets, if it’s a clear day, 15 minutes after the sun sets, bam they’ll start peenting. And if it’s overcast, then 20 minutes after sunset, they’ll start peenting.”

The training sessions are next week. To sign up, visit Project Timberdoodle on Facebook and Twitter:

https://www.facebook.com/ProjectTimberdoodle/

https://twitter.com/TimberdoodleURI