Overview

This area of Penn State's Stone Valley Experimental Forest had prime woodcock habitat in the 1940s, when it was included in several major studies of this species. A Game Commission biologist who experimented with habitat management techniques drafted a woodcock management plan for the University. The most recent study has focused on nesting habitat, fall migration, and harvest characteristics. Today the Charter Oak woodcock demonstration area is being managed to provide woodcock with habitat requirements for breeding, nesting, and migration. Points marked along the orange-blazed demonstration trail show suitable cover types and management practices that enhance woodcock habitat. The trail is less then 1 mile long. Leave about 45 minutes to walk this trail.

Begin

This site consists almost entirely of mature trees. A farm woodlot during the 1930s, it probably never provided woodcock habitat. While unsuitable for woodcock, the oak stand provides food and cover for squirrels, turkey, and other forest wildlife. In the next ten years, some of the timber will be cut for commercial sale. With the felled trees no longer using water, the water table in this lowland site will rise. This change will benefit woodcock and other shrub-wetland wildlife species.

BACK TO TOP

Old Farm Field

The large white pine and spindly hawthorns suggest that this site formerly was a farm field. The rock pile to the left of the trail near Point 3 is further evidence of farming. No doubt the rocks were removed to make cultivation easier. After the farm was abandoned in the 1930s, hawthorns and other shrubs invaded the field, providing ideal woodcock habitat. Then trees gradually replaced the shrubs. By removing all trees over 20 feet tall, this area could be made suitable for woodcock again, because the additional sunlight would encourage hawthorns and other shrubs to grow.

BACK TO TOP

Feeding and Cover

This site was an open field 30 years ago. Alder and dogwoods planted at that time still stand about 20 feet beyond the sign. The hawthorns and winged sumacs on this site probably sprouted from seeds deposited by birds. The shrubby vegetation growing in fertile, moist soil filled with earthworms provides ideal feeding and resting cover for woodcock. The birds feed mainly at twilight and dawn, when earthworms, their preferred food, are likely to be near the soil surface. They may eat twice their weight in earthworms during a 24 hour period. They also feed on slugs and insect larvae under the leaf litter. As you walk along the trail, especially in fall and winter, look for bright red highbush cranberry fruits, wild grape vines, and smooth alders which provide food for wildlife.

BACK TO TOP

Old Farmstead

The mature apple tree behind the signand other apple trees in the area are about all that remains of the farm that once occupied this site. Like so many farms abandoned in the 1930s, it was prime woodcock habitat. Old fields, alder, and dogwood thickets along with young hardwoods and moist soils provided food, cover, nesting sites, and singing grounds for the birds. but tree species such as red maple, ash, and elm gradually invaded the unmanaged site. As the habitat became less desirable for woodcock,
populations declined.

BACK TO TOP

Singing Grounds

This site, formerly an old field forest similar to the woods at Point 2, was clearcut in the summers of 1988 and 1989. All large trees and shrubs were removed to allow regrowth of vegetation preferred by woodcock and other shrub-wetland animals. In a few years, the area will be covered with a dense growth of young tree seedlings interspersed with clumps of grey dogwood and hawthorn. The moist earth beneath this vegetation should supply plenty of earthworms and make this site ideal habitat for woodcock. The western third of the clearcut, to the right of the sign, was limed in 1990 to provide less
acidic conditions favorable for earthworm production. Portions of the clearcut should remain relatively open for many years, providing singing grounds for male woodcock to engage in their acrobatic courtship rituals. Singing males can be observed in this location as early as the first week in March. In the spring of 1990, at least six different woodcock were observed singing and spiraling skyward. In 1992, five were observed.

BACK TO TOP

Deer Exclosure

The wire exclosures were erected to protect shrub growth from deer browising , evident on both sides of the trail. The small curcular exclosures are an inexpensive, low-maintenance way to help desireable vegetation get established.

BACK TO TOP

Development

This site has been a nesting area for many years. Female woodcock prefer to nest near brushy edges adjjacent to male singing sites. They nest on the ground in shallow depressions lined with leaves. The breeding season in Pennsylvania extends from the first week in March to the third week in May. Egg laying starts during the second week in March, with most females laying four eggs. The uncubation period is 19 to 22 days, and 70 percent of the eggs hatch during the last two weeks in April and the first week in May. Offspring are ready to leave the nest as soon as they hatch. They can fly short distances at two weeks and are almost full grown at four weeks.

BACK TO TOP

Shrub Release

This site has been a nesting area for many years. Female woodcock prefer to nest near brushy edges adjacent to male singing sites. They nest on the ground in shallow depressions lined with leaves. The breeding season in Pennsylvania extends from the first week in March to the third week in May. Egg laying starts during the second week in March, with most females laying four eggs. The uncubation period is 19 to 22 days, and 70 percent of the eggs hatch during the last two weeks in April and the first week in May. Offspring are ready to leave the nest as soon as they hatch. They can fly short distances at two weeks and are almost full grown at four weeks.

BACK TO TOP