Best recent birding blog posts

Wilson's Snipe, Hines, Oregon, 28 May 2010 by Greg Gillson.

 

There have been several blog posts by birders lately that I have found extremely interesting. If you haven't read them you should!

Are there really fewer snipe this year than last? Mike Patterson of North Coast Diaries discusses impression versus real data in Sniping about observer bias.

How can birders learn to identify bird songs and calls if they can't even Hear the motorcycle? Don Freiday posts this interesting discussion on the ABA Blog.

Bill Schmoker gives us The Low Down on photographing birds. What an excellent article published on the ABA blog.

A topic close to my heart, David Sibley discusses Identifying small songbirds by flight style.

In the Island Nature blog, Dave Ingram followed up the Progress of Caddisfly Creek, a salmon habitat greenway protected area on Vancouver Island. Yes, indeed, it is well-protected from any salmon!

Over at BirdFellow, Dave Irons writes about taking notes of rare birds on A lost art? Writing descriptions of rare birds.

Memorial Day weekend at Malheur: Part 6

Wilson's Snipe near Hines, Oregon on 29 May, 2010 by Greg Gillson.

 

[Click to read all Memorial Day weekend at Malheur posts.]

We've discussed Wilson's Snipes in the past.

Here, though, they call "kip, kip, kip" from the wooden fenceposts, or fly in circles high overhead fanning their tail feathers to make the hollow, haunting, "whoo-whoo-whoo-whoo-whoo" sound.

Let's go on a snipe hunt!

Wilson's Snipe, Fernhill Wetlands, Forest Grove, Oregon on 12 October 2009 by Greg Gillson.

 

The young man stands alone in the woods at night, watching and waiting for the prey. In his hand is a large bag. He makes loud clucking sounds as directed. His friends are to be circling around, driving the strange birds toward him. Snipe are so stupid, his friends tell him, that they'll be easy for this young person to catch and put in his bag! He waits... and waits... and waits.

I've never actually known anyone to have been fooled by this practical joke, or even heard of anyone trying to play this joke on others. But I can imagine.

In actuality, snipes are diurnal shorebirds. They are found in wet bogs and the grassy edges of marshes. Rarely do they venture out far into the water or out on the mudflats, away from cover. When danger appears they crouch and freeze (as in the above photo), usually blending in to the marsh vegetation with their camouflage plumage. When danger gets too close--such as an oblivious birder on the shoreline looking at ducks out in the marsh, this bird bursts from underfoot with a raspy call and zigzagging flight.

In the Pacific NW, Wilson's Snipes nest in grassy wet meadows. They winter in similar wet situations where water remains unfrozen. They are widespread in migration. They are told apart from other long-billed shorebirds, especially the similar dowitchers, by their blackish backs with long straw-colored lines and the striped head and face.