You may recall that I first found the Lathams Snipe, a threatened species of shorebird in March 2018 in this small local wetland. After our first official count in September 2020, 34 birds were counted, making the area a significant habitat for the species.
Saturday was the final National Snipe Count for the season and two of us counted 9 birds, similar to the last count in December.
One night in December, we watched and counted the birds leaving at dusk. It was a magical experience to hear their distinctive call and watch them fly off into the night sky. We were trying to work out their direction. The birds leave the wetlands at dusk each night to feed elsewhere and return at dawn. We are yet to find their night feeding grounds.
The Snipe Project, responsible co-ordinating the counts and research were expecting potentially poor results after the >40% decline in snipe numbers was detected during the Japanese breeding ground surveys in May. However, the September results were quite good with 24 new sites, including my site. The overall results are not yet available. However it is possible that as most of these sites surveyed are in urban areas, they may not reflect decline experienced in other sites that have been impacted by fire and drought.
I am quite chuffed that a number of my Snipe images now grace the Snipe Project website!
There is some wonderful information here about Snipe, their threats and conservation.
lathamssnipeproject.wordpress.com/
I am really going to miss them when they leave in the next month or so and wish them well on their heroic journey. I hope there is somewhere safe for them to land.
