[obol] Jack Snipe records

[Wayne Weber]

Oregon Birders,

The Washington record of Jack Snipe was a bird seen and well-described (but
not photographed) by Keith and Jan Wiggers at the Skagit Wildlife Area
(Skagit Co.) on September 9, 1993. The species is included in "Birds of
Washington: Status and Distribution" by Wahl, Tweit, and Mlodinow (2005) on
the basis of this record.

In addition to the 2 California records and the Washington record, there are
only 2 other previous North American records of Jack Snipe, to my knowledge:
one on St. Paul Island, AK in 1919, and one in Labrador in 1927, both of
which were specimen records.

If the two Oregon records are accepted, this would therefore be a 40%
increase in the total number of Jack Snipe records in North America, from 5
to 7.

Owen-- do you know whether the Oregon specimens were saved, or do we only
have the photos as evidence?

Wayne C. Weber
Delta, BC
contopus at telus.net



-----Original Message-----
From: obol-bounces at lists.oregonstate.edu
[mailto:obol-bounces at lists.oregonstate.edu] On Behalf Of david tracy
Sent: December-02-07 10:46 AM
To: Obol
Subject: [obol] Jack Snipe records from California, Washington

When I was a kid "snipe hunting" was an activity you didn't want to  
be associated, at least once you became familiar with the sport.  It  
usually involved some older kids and a nighttime trip into the  
woods.  I was the one holding a small stick all by myself in the dark  
doing my best to listen for the call of the wild snipe while waiting  
for the other kids to chase our quarry right towards me and into the  
pillowcase I was holding.  After about an hour of straining to hear I  
marched back to the fort and found my cousins drinking all the hot  
chocolate.

Anyway, I looked up the records of Jack Snipe from California,  
interestingly they are both fall records from inland locations, only  
12 miles apart.  One was Nov 28, 1938, the other on Dec. 2, 1990.   
Both were specimen records taken from the Sacramento NWR area north  
of Sacramento.  I've uploaded an image that shows the location of  
both records.

http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=2081451072&size=o


The Washington State has a single sight record listed for Jack Snipe,  
but I can't find any additional details at the moment.  Anyone else  
with knowledge of the location and date of this record?

Maybe we should be keeping a closer eye on fall snipe movements  
around the Klamath Basin as well as along the coast.

Dave

David Tracy
davect at bendnet.com