ML193943621

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Behaviors

Flying

Media notes

This is maybe worst photo I've ever posted but you can see one of the narrow white stripes down the back.

Observation details

We initially became aware of this bird when it exploded out of some sort, dense, vibrantly green veg alongside the dike, perhaps 3m away, giving kind of a plaintive hiccup alarm call. I only managed a glimpse at point-blank range before it devolved into a rapidly retreating butt-view silhouette in my binocs, but the GISS on the bird immediately had alarm bells sounding “SNIPE!” in my head. We knew there to be a Long-billed Dowitcher in the area (which, when we observed it the other week, similarly had a long, straight bill), but this bird absolutely lacked the wide white stripe down the center of its back. I was too stunned at the time to remember we were carrying a camera (!), so I just watched as the bird beat it east and disappeared against the background of the hillside. I looked over at Stephen, whose mouth was also agape. We stared at each other for a couple of seconds before he finally broke the silence: "...Was that a SNIPE?!?" Remembering the species split and acknowledging that we are inexperienced with Common Snipe, we immediately googled audio recordings of that species, but we were unsuccessful in finding any that sounded anything like our bird. However, the Wilson’s alarm call was spot-on. We flushed the bird a second time (or flushed a second individual?) maybe 100 m or so away from the first spot. Stephen got a better look than I did, but I had a distinct impression of “stripeyness” on the dorsum. We lost it pretty quickly against the background. Maybe 50m later, we flushed a bird a third and final time. This time, Stephen managed a couple of “squatchy” shots (will upload later) and I got my best look at it… enough to do a quick field sketch. Among the characteristics I jotted down: “long, straight bill. No neck. Very narrow linear white streaks down back. Rufous/ brown wider stripes adjacent to white… not sure which side. No legs projecting beyond tail. White belly.” Given the long flight of the first encounter especially, and the fact that the next two encounters were relatively nearby, it's entirely possible there may have been more than one bird.

Technical information

Model

DMC-ZS50

ISO

80

Focal length

28.7 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/5.5

Shutter speed

1/80 sec

Dimensions

305 pixels x 238 pixels

Original file size

40.47 KB