The biologists' crew recently took advantage of recent wet weather to capture and band woodcock that were using night roost fields on the refuge.  In four dark and rainy nights, biologists used spot lights and long-handled nets to catch 79 woodcock and one common nighthawk.  Age and sex data from the woodcock are used to calculate a productivity index (number of juvenile birds per adult female), which currently stands at 2.4 for the refuge year.  To put this in perspective , a female woodcock typically lays a clutch of four eggs.

During the past week, the biologists' crew started pre-season waterfowl banding.  Black ducks are the primary target, and so far over 150 black ducks and lesser numbers and mallards have been banded.  The crew also assisted Aroostook National Wildlife Refuge in setting up waterfowl traps for their banding effort.  Banding of woodcock and waterfowl continued until the end of September.  Unfortunately, there was one case of illegal shooting on the refuge over one of the traps in an attempt to kill the ducks.

Other ongoing woodcock project, biologist Weik provided consultation to the Downeast Lakes Land Trust to enhance habitat for early successional forest wildlife on a portion of the land trust's 28,000 acre ownership.