Alabama · MigratoryAmerican woodcock

ADCNR's own species profile draws a real, if coarse, sub-state distinction: American woodcock are fairly common in fall and winter, and occasional in spring and summer, along the Gulf Coast region, versus uncommon in winter, spring, and fall, and rare in summer, everywhere else in the state. Independent of that agency baseline, hunting-press coverage points to a second, inland concentration in north Alabama's river-bottom hardwood forests, where moist soils and thickets along the Black Warrior, Alabama, and Tombigbee rivers hold birds during the mid-winter season window. The two signals describe different seasons of concentration (Gulf Coast in early fall/winter arrival, north Alabama bottomlands during the December to January season proper) rather than conflicting claims.