We have a pair of Snipes that share our backyard from early August each year. I thought for a long time that they were Latham's Snipe but today when I looked them up on the net I found that http://www.environment.gov.au casts some doubt on that - "Latham's Snipe could easily be confused with the Pin-tailed Snipe Gallinago stenura or with Swinhoe's Snipe G. megala. All three species visit Australia and are very similar in size, shape, appearance, behaviour and habitat preferences. It is possible to distinguish Latham's Snipe from the other two species, but identification requires careful assessment of a range of characters, including slight differences in size and structure, and separation is sometimes impossible (Higgins & Davies 1996)."
On reading the descriptions of the other two, I have found that they are recorded as arriving in northern Australia in late August to early September as opposed to Latham's arring in early August. Also the birds in my back yard are definitely too big to be Pin-tail Snipes.
Am I just being hopeful in assuming that these birds are Latham's Snipe?
Naturally can't get close enough (only have a 10x optical zoom lens) for me to take a picture. Even then it would not be definitive. Check out the images on google. I am sure there are a lot of mis-identifications there!
The three snipes are extremely hard to identify unless you have them in hand- virtually the only easy distinguishing feature is the configuration for their tail feathers. Latham's snip can (apparently) be distinguished by a number of subtle features in the field, but Swinhoe's and Pin Tailed Snipes are impossible for anyone except the extremely experienced.
Thankfully, there is an easier way to do it: the only Snipe found further south on the east coast than a Camooweal- Iron Ranges line in Cape York Peninsula is Latham's Snipe. So, if, as your username suggests, you live on the Sunshine Coast, then it is Latham's Snipe.
Thanks for that Lachlan. I live in Cooloola Cove.
We have been getting this pair of Latham's Snipe fly in every year for the last 4 years. They have become so used to us that they now feed in our garden as well as the reserve behind us.
Sometimes we have had one of the Snipes and a Buff-banded Rail in the yard at the same time. My eyesight is not what it was and without glasses I haven't known which was which until I startled them and they flew away. Pretty distinctive flight on both species.
Wow! Friendly snipes! Those things are notoriously secretive... Nice to have both those things in your yard.
Interesting that the Snipes keep coming back- they migrate to Japan every year... I wonder how they remember?
Cooloola Cove looks like a nice place, but pretty isolated... Do you have to go all the way back into Gympie for shopping and stuff?
I have no experience with Pin-tailed and Swinhoe's Snipe, but just out of interest, apparently the three species can be differentiated by arrangements of white lines on the backs of the birds...
Latham's: has a pattern which looks like this, (\''/)
Swinhoe's: the pattern looks like this, (\ /)
Pin-tailed: the same pattern as Swinhoe's but the lines are "dirty" instead of white.
You'll probably get what I mean when you look in your field guide. However, I highly doubt your snipes are anything but Latham's Snipe.
Brandon (aka ihewman)
Interesting, neither of my sources (Pizzey + Knight field guide and Shorebirds of Australia) indicate that. I'll have to annotate my field guide so that I remember that. Out of curiosity, where did you get the info from?
Lachlan,
Cooloola Cove is a pretty good place to live. Tin Can Bay/Cooloola Cove/Rainbow Beach total population is about 6,000.
All essential services are available in the area - butchers, bakers (no candle-stick makers), doctors, lawyers (no Indian Chiefs), dentists, optometrists, pharmacies, supermarkets (Woolies and IGA), etc etc. 15 minutes to the surf beach at Rainbow Beach, 30 minutes to the barge to Fraser Is., plenty of beach and estuary fishing, golf course
Only go into Gympie if we need Big W/Target type stores.
Given that Eremaea has the only reported Qld sightings for Swinhoe's from Lockhart River, Far Nth Qld (1) and Mt Isa (2) and no Pin-tailed Snipe Qld sightings I suggest that it is safe to assume Lathams Snipe for both birds.
Peter