Mr. Wilson's Snipe

Wilson's snipe near Woodworth, ND.

Did you ever get sent on a snipe hunt as a kid? You'd get handed a stick, a burlap bag and told to walk quietly through the woods because, after all, snipe are among the wariest of creatures.

If you want to go on a snipe hunt these days, I suggest heading out to the prairie potholes region of North Dakota where there's snipe aplenty. Stand by a marsh or slough in the morning and you're almost guaranteed to hear the woooo-woooo-woooo sound of winnowing snipe performing their courtship flights overhead. Snipe produce this sound by channeling the wind (as they fly) over specially adapted tail feathers. They often fly so high that you can hear but not see them performing. It's an eerie sound that confuses many a prairie sojourner.

This species was formerly called common snipe, but to separate the North American snipe from those pesky Eurasian snipe (snipes? snape?) ours is now known as the Wilson's snipe. The name Wilson is for Alexander Wilson, a Scottish ornithologist who discovered and named many North American birds during his time here between 1794 and 1813. He was a contemporary (and some would say, rival) of John James Audubon. Other birds named for Al Wilson include a plover, a warbler, a storm-petrel, and a phalarope.

But if you want to see Al W's snipe (and who wouldn't?) get thee to North Dakota, laddie.