Snipe and Woodcock
American Woodcock skulking on the forest floor
Spending most of its time alone in the forest, the woodcock emerges at dawn and dusk in spring to perform a spectacular courtship flight.
American Woodcock skulking on the forest floor
Spending most of its time alone in the forest, the woodcock emerges at dawn and dusk in spring to perform a spectacular courtship flight.
■ To impress mates and rivals, the snipe does not use its voice to sing, instead it produces a humming whistle with its tail. This is easy to observe, but some of the details of how the physics work were only recently revealed by research. The trailing edge of the outermost tail feathers is lighter colored and lacks barbules (hooks) to hold the vane together, making that edge of the feather less stiff. When these feathers are extended perpendicular to the body at high speed, the trailing edge of the feather can flutter very rapidly, like a flag in high wind, and its shape and flexibility is “tuned” to vibrate at the frequency that produces the low whistling sound of the snipe’s display.
A Wilson’s Snipe displaying, and a close-up of the feather that makes the noise
■ The snipe hunt is a practical joke, popular in the United States as early as the 1840s. An unsuspecting newcomer is invited on the hunt, given a bag, and led to a remote location with instructions for catching a mysterious swamp creature called a snipe. Recommended techniques include holding the bag open and just waiting, or making odd noises to attract the snipe into the bag, especially at night. The pranksters then leave the newcomer alone in the woods, “holding the bag.” There is a real bird called a snipe—a chunky sandpiper that hides in wet muddy and grassy areas, relying on its cryptic coloration for camouflage. No one has ever caught a snipe in a bag.
A Wilson’s Snipe in the grass
■ Birds generally have excellent eyesight, and one of the ways they surpass human vision is in their field of view—the spread of their surroundings that can be seen simultaneously. Human eyes are positioned to focus together on a single point, and if we hold still we can see about half of our surroundings (although we only see detail in one tiny point at the center of our vision). The snipe, like many other sandpipers and ducks, can see the entire 360 degrees around, and a full 180 degrees overhead, all at the same time. And instead of seeing a small area in fine detail, they see detail in a wide horizontal band in each eye. Imagine being able to see the entire sky and horizon, and some detail along most of the horizon, without turning your head. This is critical for birds like snipes that rely on camouflage for protection. Their first response to approaching danger is simply to crouch and freeze, and while remaining perfectly motionless they can still see everything around them. (See also this page, and this page.)
Front view of a Wilson’s Snipe