Wilson’s Snipe

Gallinago delicata

A regular spring migrant in small numbers, this species is reported annually with the highest incidence of occurrence from May 20th to June 1st. There are few June arrivals during the spring season with only a handful of summer records, including a surprising, and successful, nesting attempt from 12 July-6 August 2012. This is the species’ first known breeding attempt for the islands with one to two fledglings seen on August 3rd and 6th in the company of a parent. There are nearly annual records during recent falls, which are scattered from late August until early October with the majority of sightings early on during fall migration and only a couple records from October.

This species and Common Snipe (Gallinago gallinago) were once considered conspecific, known confusingly as Common Snipe. As a result, records prior to the split in 2003 may not always be accurate to species.

Photo by Tom Johnson
Photo by Tom Johnson
Photo by Tom Johnson