Common Snipe (Gallinago gallinago). Galisteo Lake, Cáceres. 06-10-2004 (J. Prieta).As part of its "monitoring birds" series, SEO/BirdLife has just brought out a new booklet on the shy Common Snipe (Gallinago gallinago), one of many species that are all too often overlooked by government authorities and researchers and receive attention only from a few stalwart (and almost always unpaid) amateur sleuths. This interesting booklet can now be downloaded in PDF version. Only a hundred-odd pairs of Snipe breed in Spain. About ten are still hanging on in Ourense, hitherto the Spanish population's stronghold before Antelas Lake dried up, and there are about 60-105 pairs in hay meadows in the Avila sierras, just behind the now snowy Gredos peaks in the north of Extremadura. This magnificent fieldwork is still underway for the authors have unearthed new pairs in 2010 in zones of Ávila where the book had previously cited them (M. Lorenzo, pers. comm.). From here we want to add our own pennyworth, because although the book records the Snipe as absent from the Sierra de Guadarrama, César Clemente (SEO-Cáceres) has proven their presence in Navas del Marqués (Ávila), where he was lucky enough to watch the magnificent drumming display flight in spring 2008.
- Lorenzo, M. and Planelles, P. 2010. La agachadiza común en España. Población en 2009 y método de censo. SEO/BirdLife. Madrid.
[in Spanish, with English abstract]
[in Spanish, with English abstract]
Download: click on the image of the book cover
