Henderson Wetland Bird Viewing Preserve

I just spent the last week with a birder from New York named Lisa trying to help her pick up some western lifers. We started in Nevada with a visit to the Henderson wetland center. There the highlights Included both ANNA’S and COSTA’S HUMMINGBIRDS, lots of ducks, WILSON SNIPE, COMMON GALLINULE, GAMBEL’s QUAIL, BLACK PHOEBES, BLACK-TAILED GNATCATCHERS, VERDIN, and ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLERS. It’s also a place to potentially get LEAST BITTERNS, although we didn’t see any.
 

Verdin in Nevada

Great-horned Owl at Tonaquint Park

Named after Scottish Naturalist and Ornithologist, Alexander Wilson, first to describe this species, especially the tail retrices.  
Additional “handle” The Dainty Woodcock (Snipe) 

    by Steve Van Winkle 

My very first recollection of the Wilson’s snipe is that I became part of a practical joke dating back to the 1840’s.  Young lads, such as I was at the time, were sent on a fool’s errand by my older “wiser” cousins to find an elusive and non-existent bird, creature, by scrambling, tripping and tramping around in the woods after dark.  Of course, now I can refer to those cousins as the “less-wiser fools” as there, in fact, actually exists two species (plus natural occurring hybrids, Sibley, David Allen) , of snipes native to the North America’s.  Of course, we never found a snipe during any of those woodsy escapades!

     Wilson’s is a early migrant to the north, ours most likely wintering in southern Arizona, and possibly Mexico and as far south as Central America. Interestingly, Wilson’s has been recorded every month throughout the year in Utah Co., (ebirds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology). The species often arriving before the last snows reluctantly give way to spring, as observed during our Utah County Birders  “Waterfowl and Raptor” field trip in March.  *Noting that species has been recorded throughout the entire year! Our "covey” of observers recorded 18 snipes flittering, individually and in small groups, on the snow-mud covered Salem March.  Most likely probing the exposed soil for earthworms, insects and plant materials (a mainstay of their diet).

During the summer of ’72, I had the pleasure of first observing “the wisp of snipe, the will-o-the-wisps {ghost light at night in the bogs and marshes from English Folklore}, of the wetland meadows and marshes” and the courtship display on the wing “a rapidly pulsating series of notes, who, who, who, who, who”, A.C. Benson, 1927., {also described as a winnowing of the wings, as the male circles high and then dives downward in a territorial and courtship display}, at Hagerman, Idaho. There, I worked as a fisheries bio-tech with Idaho Fish and Game.  Winnowing is a rush, stir or fan of air through the wing in flight, although in the case of our Wilson’s snipe this curious song flight described by W.L. Dawson, {1923} is actually “produced by the impact of the air upon the lateral feathers (retrices) of the tail, held stiffly, at right angles to the body”, as the snipe dives down from great heights during its courtship display.

     As I rambled about at Hagerman Fish Hatchery property and Silver Creek reserve no nests were ever found.  A.C. Bent only found one nest during his entire life of birding and writing field notes on his find states “It was found on high ground…upon a little clump of grass…beneath a barberry shrub on the edge of a boggy arm of the marsh…with the 4 eggs that blended perfectly with their surroundings.”  The snipe is perfectly suited for these varied habitats of its niche by a combination of disruptive and concealing camouflage created by the wonderfully adaptive cryptic patterns of its body feathers. “Relying on this cryptic coloration and wetland vegetation, Wilson’s Snipes typically crouch and freeze when danger is perceived.” Corman, Troy E.. 2005. A scene we and I have repeatedly witnessed while “glassing” for this intriguingly deceptive bird.

     An interesting side-bar is the military sniper get his or her name from the snipe, largely due to their inability to be shot by all but the most accurate hunters, hence sharp-shooters.  Despite their small size and “fleet of wing” Bent expresses concern about heir dwindling numbers during the later-half and first-half of the 19^th and 20^thcenturies due to excessive hunting pressure. However, the current population is not considered threatened and as of 2014 is not listed on the State of the Birds Watch List. World wide population is estimated at 2 million individuals.

     After our discussion,  at the last chapter meeting regarding establishing a member’s library of bird books that can be shared, I remembered a well established ornithologist, Arthur Cleveland Bent, and his “Life Histories of North American Shore Birds” {publ. 1927}.  Included is a wonderfully accurate accounting of the Common Snipe, Galligano galligano  (Wilson’s, G.delicata) its courtship, migration and behavior.  Bent’s Life Histories are an invaluable research source for any birding enthusiast.  See: birdsbybent.com for the complete collection of life histories accessible on-line for immediate reference.

               References:  Arizona Breeding Bird Atlas, Gorman, Tom E., 2005:  Life Histories of North American Marsh Birds, Bent, Arthur Cleveland ,1927; The Sibley Guide to Birds, Sibley, David Allen, 2000.   

Field Trip Reports
 

  
2 Mar 2019

Waterfowl and Raptors!!!
 
Report and Photos by Suzi Holt
   

Seven Birders showed up on a snowy, rainy, sleety day for some good car birding. Ducks are going to stay put right? Well Spring Lake was a bust with only a American Wigeon and Pond ducks, a DC cormorant. But we did see a beautiful Merlin. Too bad it was so gloomy for photos. On the way to Salem Pond we saw 5 American Kestrals. Salem Pond was terrible too! There was one Lesser Scaup, a few Common Goldeneye, the Pond Ducks and a couple Canada Geese. But the Muskrat was obliging. On to Salem Fields. We found a bunch of Ring-necked ducks, some more Lesser Scaup and a few Gadwall, but the bonus was 18 Wilson's Snipes flying around together in the field!! Also there were a few more Canada Geese, Mallards, a couple Killdeer and two Bald Eagle. At the North Salem Fields we saw Red-tailed Hawk, Cinnamon Teal, a lone Northern Pintail, a bunch more Ring-necked Ducks and 4 Northern Shovelers and a Flicker. On the way to Benjamin Slough we saw Western Meadowlarks, Brewer's and Red-winged Blackbirds and a few more American Kestrals.

At the slough we found Green-winged and Cinnamon Teal, a huge group of Redheads, 3 Buffleheads, Northern Shovelers and lots more Northern Pintails and Geese. We decided to go around West Mountain to from Lincoln Beach to Lebarron Point. We found 3 more Bald Eagles, 9 Great Blue Herons and some more Northern Pintails, American Coots and Gadwall. In Genola/Goshen Fields we saw more Red-tailed Hawks, Canada Geese, Northern Pintails, American Wigeons. Cinnamon Teal and Mallards. Overall a great day for ducks and a few Raptors. Thanks to all who braved the storm!