Wilson's Snipe

Secretive Marsh Bird

Wilson's Snipe

The Wilson's Snipe (Gallinago delicata) is a secretive marsh and shorebird.  It is a common New Brunswick bird that is not often seen.  It is a member of the Scolopacidae family which it shares with sandpipers, phalaropes and their allies.  They share the same problem as the rest of the family, loss of habitat.  A few years ago this species was lumped with the European Common Snipe but has recently been returned to its own species.

Wilson's Snipe are generally seen singly in wet, grassy or muddy habitats.  Their bill appears exceptionally long and one wonders how they can manoeuvre it in their deep probes into the mud. They are a stocky bird with a long dark-tipped bill and greenish gray legs.  What is striking is how striped they are.  There are bold stripes on their head and back.  Their breast is brown with fine white streaks.  The belly is white.  The flanks show heavy bars.  They are 26 cm (10.3 in) long.  Their flight is startling as they explode in front of you and fly straight upwards.  Their toes do not extend beyond the tail in flight.  

Wilson's Snipe

We have another species of marsh bird here which one might mistake for the Wilson's Snipe, the American Woodcock.  This species is slightly larger (28 cm/11 in) and appears more heavy bodied.  The head on the woodcock shows cross-barring verses the heavy longitudinal stripes of the snipe.  The woodcock has no bars on its flanks.

The snipe commonly makes a winnowing sound.  This makes easy identification since it is much more difficult to actually see the bird.  The sound is made with its wings in its courtship display.  Snipe probe in the soil for insects, earthworms, crustaceans and mollusks.  They often sink their entire bill into the soil sometimes up to their foreheads.  They swallow prey without withdrawing their bill.  Their bill is very sensitive so they can detect prey by feel.  They can feed on both land and in water but usually stay close to cover.  Their nest is a ground scrape lined with grass where they lay four olive-brown eggs.  

Wilson's Snipe

The word 'snipe' was first used in the 14th century and is derived from the Old Norse word, 'snipa'.  The Old Saxon word was 'sneppa' and the Middle Dutch word was 'snippe'.  In the 1770s the word began to be used as a verb, 'to snipe', in British India.  Since the snipe is a challenging game bird for hunters, 'to snipe' became associated with sharpshooting around 1824.  

The shooting of snipe carries on today.  The Wilson's Snipe and the American Woodcock are the only shorebirds which still can be legally hunted in New Brunswick.  They are often hunted with bird dogs.  In New Brunswick the season is from September 15 to November 30.  The bag limit is 10 and the possession limit is 20.  These numbers vary slightly for woodcock.  

I have never eaten snipe but I can't imagine there would be much on that small bird to eat.  I think they are much better off left in their proper place in the ecosystem.