Giant Snipe

Copyright: monacoeye • Guapi Assu, Sep 2011 • Do not copy without permission

Bird name: Giant Snipe
Latin: Gallinago undulata
Other: Narcejão (Br) • Caica gigante, becasina gigante (Es)
Family: Scolopacidae • Waders, Snipes
Range: South America - Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil etc
Similar: South American Snipe

Birdwatching often transports you to extraordinary situations - my encounter with the Giant Snipe was one such event.

The Giant Snipe is a difficult bird to see during the day - it’s shy and hides in long grasses and channels. So three of us set off from Regua, in the northern part of Rio de Janeiro state, a little before dusk, with flashlights and ipod, to a certain field where the Giant Snipe was known to live.

We walked across a wet field, negotiating bulls with their cows and the odd barbed wire fence, as the magnificent Milky Way began to reveal itself overhead. And there we waited, not moving or talking, while the guide craned his neck, apparently hearing the inaudible and seeing the invisible, plotting the presence of various birds in the darkness, which were still too distant for us to attempt to see.

And then I started to hear noises, first a call from the ground, then a strange, plaintive, rythmic melody, like the start of a dub track, accompanied by a helicopter-like fluttering of wings. The guide pointed up, and in the twilight against the stars I made out the silhouette of Giant Snipe, whirring over our heads one by one in an aerial display, before alighting in another part of the field.

The combination of sounds of the Giant Snipe is one of the strangest, most mysterious I have heard. You can get a flavour of it here. Suddenly the guide ran into the darkness; we followed cautiously. He had found a bird. We approached quietly - there in front of us stood the beautiful, richly patterned Giant Snipe illuminated by the guide’s torch. I think he said it was a female. Slightly flustered by our presence she initially moved away, but after a short while relaxed, walking at a moderate pace through the grass.

This was the world of the Giant Snipe, wandering a dark field every night, socialising and feeding. But having found this elusive bird, it was evident that the obscurity was her best defense, and she seemed vulnerable under the glare of our torch. So I quickly took a couple of photos and then we turned our torches away and left the bird in peace.

The Giant Snipe is a large bird with a very long bill, and rich brown stripes on its back, distinguishing it from the South American Snipe. I understand there are separate populations, two of the nominate subspecies centred in northern South America, and another in the southeast of Brazil of Gallinago undulata gigantea seen here.

Below, a Giant Snipe in a field just after dusk, Regua, Brazil, Sep 2011.