Snipe Hunting in the Arboretum

The newly-established WSU Arboretum and Botanical Gardens recorded an unusual winter visitor in January, 2008. One cold winter morning, students and faculty were surprised to see a Wilson's Snipe (Gallinago delicata) probing for invertebrates in a small puddle on the snow-covered lawn of the E.H. Steffen Center, which borders the WSU Arboretum. A shorebird was the last thing people expected to see on a winter landscape completely buried under deep layers of snow.

However, a leaking water pipe formed a shallow wetland area on the lawn and created perfect conditions for a Wilson's Snipe, which probably found the pond by flying along the tiny creek that runs through the edge of the Arboretum. True to its nature, the snipe was almost impossible to see by people driving by, unless it happened to be standing next to the snow bank on the lawn.

The Wilson's Snipe of North America is closely related to the Common Snipe (Gallinago gallinago) of Iceland, northern Europe, and Russia, and until relatively recently it was considered to be a subspecies of the Common Snipe.

Snipe Hunting

"This well camouflaged bird is usually shy and conceals itself close to ground vegetation and flushes only when approached closely. They fly off in a series of aerial zig-zags to confuse predators. Snipe hunters, therefore, needed to be very skilled to hunt these birds and they came to be called snipers - a term later adopted by the military." (Quote about Common Snipe. Source: Wikipedia - Wilson's Snipe; Common Snipe).

Listen to a Winnowing Snipe

Unfortunately, most people probably have not spent enough time by marshes and wetlands in spring and heard the winnowing of male snipe during the breeding season. Instead of only calling to defend territories and attract mates, male snipe fly high in the air and then make a steep dive, which forces rushing air past the outer curved tail feathers, making a "winnowing" sound.

If you want to hear a vocal call, and then the sound of a male snipe winnowing, visit our friends at the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology (Wilson's Snipe) and click on the "Sound" or "Multimedia" link. This 21 second audio clip begins with the vocal call of a snipe and then half way through, you hear the sound of winnowing as a male snipe dives through the air.

Having heard winnowing snipe many times in my life, I think the sound in the clip is a little sharp and harsh compared to the actual sound you would hear in the field, probably because a sensitive parabolic microphone was used to capture the sound. But even if you hear this sound once on your computer, you'll probably be able to recognize the distinctive winnowing of snipe in the field. And, yes, snipe hunting is allowed in the WSU Arboretum - as long as it is with a camera or sound recorder!

Note: The Steffen Center is a 45-acre teaching and research laboratory for the Department of Natural Resource Sciences on the edge of the Pullman campus, and it also will be the working headquarters, field shop, greenhouse, and nursery for the adjacent WSU Arboretum during the early years of development.