I've been out running the dogs with a few buddies looking for woodcock. We were successful finding 14 females though only three had broods. The others were still on nests. Those will hopefully be hatched and available next week.
During our search we contacted 43 woodcock total which was better than the norm. This late in the spring these should all be resident birds and around for the fall. One brood was found behind the house which is a rare occurance.
We also contacted 14 grouse of which 9 were on nests. Males do not often hold for points or even accept much disturbance before flushing so there were probably a lot more that we didn't were around. What I was very happy to see was the three nests found behind my house had 6 eggs in two and 8 in the last. That contrasts to the 4-5 eggs and hopefully is the result of a stray bird or two finding its way into our landlocked woods.
Pheasants are beginning o hit their peak for nesting with my new grassland area having three nests in it plus one turkey nest. The turkey is close to road at the front edge of the property which keeps my dogs from the area. I'll have to get a few more raccoon traps out there to give her better chance of bringing off a brood. The pheasants are in a less favorable place right where I like to run my dogs but I'll keep them out of there for the next few weeks. This is the most birds of all types I've seen locally in a while. I hope it means an increase in bird numbers rather than a loss of nesting areas.
I'm looking forward to next fall...
