Snipe!

  

I was still thinking about the Wilson's Snipe and wishing I could get better photos of them.  So this morning Eric and I went back and had two more tries taking pictures from the car during pauses in traffic.  I'm glad we went back as I learned a few things about snipe.

In the past I've mostly encountered snipe when they flush from a wetland and disappear, so I haven't spent much time actually watching them.

This morning they were actively feeding, probing deeply in the mud.  I read later that while their diet is diverse, they feed primarily on larval insects, especially flies and beetles.

 

 

 

Their cryptic camouflage is very effective among wetland vegetation, but a few individuals were resting on the open mud:

 

 

 

 

Snipe have short tails, but their tail feathers have a beautiful russet color that's often visible if you're looking for it:

 

 

 

 

A few times I saw them cock their tails up and off to the side, possibly a display (maybe territorial, or another possibility would be signalling awareness of a possible predator or threat; in this case, me):

 

 

 Another feature that's quite prominent is their very large eyes:

 

 

 

The eyes are also set far back on their head which allows them to see what's happening behind them (or above them when their head is down).  The photo below shows a snipe from behind, but notice how you can still see the eyes on either side of the head, which means the snipe can also see you (or a predator, like a harrier) from this angle:

 

 

 

Wilson's Snipe are winter visitors to Sonoma County.  They'll depart by ~mid-April, migrating north to wetlands (e.g., sedge bogs, fens, and alder swamps) for the breeding season.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

P.S.  Okay, if you're still with me, I can't help show one more photo.  The path to learn more about snipe displays led me to Sutton's 1981 paper "On aerial and ground displays of the world's snipes" in the Wilson Bulletin.  It's a really fun paper to read.  Here's the photo that led him to write the paper — a Wilson's Snipe displaying in Michigan, photographed by Betty Cottrille.  I hadn't known their displays were so dramatic!