GREAT SNIPE AT LOS CANCHALES RESERVOIR

About one year ago, in spring 2011, we reported the sighting of a new species for Extremadura, if accepted: Great Snipe (Gallinago media) [see here]. This was a fleeting observation, still pending acceptance, of three birds in Madrigalejo (Cáceres). We can now report another longer and more trustworthy sighting by Francisco Montaño, Joaquín Vázquez Muñoz and José Antonio Delgado on 12 March 2012 in Los Canchales Reservoir (Badajoz).

The bird was seen well for nearly an hour-and-a-half at a distance of about 150 m and with excellent visibility. The observers were able to appreciate the subtle plumage differences that distinguish it from its commoner cousin, the Snipe (Gallinago gallinago): wide white outer tail feathers, long and wide wings with a clear wing stripe, darker hue and speckled belly. The bird remained still and in full view accompanied by Snipes, clearly showing its bulkier size and relatively shorter beak. It even spread its wings to show the darker underside.

As if that were not enough, 12 other waders were seen along with it, some pretty rare in Extremadura and inland Spain: Temminck's Stint (2), Little Stint (15), Dunlin (lots), Ruff (1), Black-Tailed Godwit (30), Bar-Tailed Godwit (2), Ringed Plover (9), Little Ringed Plover (4), Kentish Plover (1), Whimbrel (2) and Redshank (14).

To find out more about the Great Snipe and its migratory feats, click here.

GREAT SNIPE: FIRST FOR EXTREMADURA

Great Snipe (Gallinago media)

Another new bird for the Extremadura list, making four since this blog came on line in May 2010. This time it's the turn of the Great Snipe (Gallinago media), which now joins Goosander, Pied-Billed Grebe and Buff-Breasted Sandpiper as previous firsts published in this blog. In all four cases, however, the birds are national rarities, so the records are still pending acceptance by the SEO's Rarities Committee.

The three birds in question were seen by a group of German birdwatchers being led by Roberto Cabo. Roberto described the observation as follows:
"On 1 April 2011 I was guiding a group of German birdwatchers in Madrigalejo (Cáceres), 1.5 km from the village in the Casas de Hitos direction. It was one of those completely unexpected, unrepeatable and one-off events. Uwe George and I were watching a Marsh Harrier quartering low over a puddled area when three waders flew up. The three of them flew only a few metres before dropping back to the ground. We looked at each other speechlessly because it was obvious that the birds we had just seen were no "ordinary, run-of-the-mill" waders. Both of us independently swung round to the group exclaiming that we had just seen three Great Snipes. That few-second glimpse had been enough to show us a small-scale woodcock-like bird, ruling out any other species of European wader. I know the species from Poland and Greece and Uwe George knows it well from Scandinavia. Without the unwitting aid of the harrier, we would never have known they were there, showing once again that what we see out in the field is only a small part of what's there."

The Great Snipe is a migratory bird that breeds in the north of Europe and west Siberia, wintering in subsaharan Africa. Its normal migration route passes through the east of Europe, with regular sightings in Italy but only very rare observations further west. In Spain, up to 2008, 20 records involving 23 birds have been accepted; most in the northeast and in spring (especially April and May). In spring 2011 an unprecedented invasion is occurring, with at least 24 birds being recorded (22 in Catalunya, including a flock of 8, and 2 in the Balearic Isles) between 27 March and 24 April, to which we now have to add the 3 Extremadura birds. These records outnumber the whole past history of this species in Spain.

Sources: Rare birds in Spain [web] De Juana, E. 2006. Aves raras en España. Lynx Edicions. Comité de Rarezas de SEO. 2010. Observaciones de aves raras en España, 2008. Ardeola 57: 481-516.