Industrial agricultural and woody encroachment associated with American Woodcock habitat selection in an altered grassland ecosystem

Animal distributions continue to undergo dramatic shifts in response to environmental change as many ecosystems become altered or transition away from their historic states. The North American Great Plains was historically a vast prairie ecosystem that has been heavily altered into a patchwork of remnant grasslands, industrial agriculture and tracts invaded by woody vegetation. We studied the habitat selection of a forest-dwelling bird, the American woodcock (Scolopax minor Gmelin, 1789), at the westward periphery of the species’ range to determine how this species uses resources in this modified landscape. During the migratory and breeding season (March – May), woodcock tracked using GPS transmitters in Nebraska selected areas with higher proportions of young forest and forests with moist soils, exhibiting similar selection to birds occupying core areas of their range in eastern North America. During the summer, woodcock routinely used (46% of diurnal points) irrigated agricultural fields during the day, which was unexpected for a species that is known to summer in forest-dominated ecosystems. Our study provides evidence for flexible and atypical woodcock habitat selection at the edge of their range. These results add to the growing body of evidence pointing to regional shifts in avian community structure and further underscore the threats of agricultural conversion and woody encroachment to the Great Plains.