The mountains report part III - Great Snipe

I may describe Long-tailed Skua as the “ultimate” species when up in the mountains but Great Snipe is my special species. The lek that I discovered in 2012 has been an annual source of delight since then and a place I have taken a number of guiding clients to. Last year I had my best everexperience at the lek with an early visit revealing loads of activity in sun light (which is not the case when I have visited in late June). I hoped that we would have a repeat experience this year but although birds were displaying when we arrived just after 9pm (a bit later than we had planned) the levels of testosterone were not as high as last year and there were also fewer birds. We did get to see birds in lovely warm evening sunlight and if it wasn’t for last year then I would have been very happy and probably described it as my best ever views.

A big purpose of the trip was to help Conor discover what the birdlife was like around his cabin which is about 40 minutes away from Valdresflya. I was immediately struck by how the habitat looked good for Great Snipe and an evening walk on the Saturday to try to relocate a Hen Harrier we had previously seen (at great distance) revealed lekking Great Snipe – just as the doctor ordered 😊 These birds were in a large field and when we heard the first bird at around 8pm (very early) my assumption was that it was a feeding bird that had just decided to sing. Walking through the area revealed more birds and as we stayed later and later it was clear that this was a lek, although not quite the type of lek I was expecting. There were at least 4 birds of which 3 displayed simultaneously but they were all rather spread out (many tens of meters apart) with only two birds ever being close to each other. Activity levels were not very high here either and maybe it was just a bit too early in the season. This spring has been quite late for many migrating birds and there have been very few records of migrant Great Snipe in the lowlands. Maybe the females are not back yet and therefore the males are not going full out?

 My pictures show the the first lek with birds in sunlight from 21:10 – 21:42 when the sun suddenly vanished behind a mountain and the birds were in a colder, but still good, light. At the second lek there was fantastic evening sunlight until much later due to the lay of the land. The first lek is a small marsh with birch trees around and dwarf birch in the marsh and the birds can easily disappear although they allow close approach whereas the second lek is on a large grassy field with only the grass to hide in but the very open nature of the site meant that it was not easy to get close without clearly affecting the birds behaviour (although they wouldn’t fly off they would stop displaying).

I didn’t get very good pictures this year but I am happy with the video especially where there are two birds displaying in the same shot. You can also see how the light changes dramatically after the sun goes behind the mountain. Use of a tripod is clearly improving my videos but a directional microphone may also be a good idea - it sounds like it was blowing a gale in the video but actually there was very little wind.

Great Snipe (dobbeltbekkasin) at 21:24

two birds in the dwarf birch which is typical of the first lek site

taken at 21:45 after the sun had disappeared behind a mountain

the white tail feathers that are spread during the display become very obvious once the light deteriorates

lek #2 which is just a lrge grass field where cows graze in the summer