Wilson’s Snipe

I believe this is a Wilson’s Snipe. If it is it is the first one I have ever seen. As a kid I was involved in quite a few late night snipe hunts but we never caught one. This was shot at a small wildlife area a few miles from my farm.

Comments are appreciated.

Phil Schwarz
E2311 530th Ave
Menomonie, WI 54751
e-mail: schwarzp@uwstout.edu
web: http://philipschwarz.zenfolio.com/

Nice shot, Phil! I, too, saw my first snipes in the wild this spring. I was tromping around a wetland area and up popped a couple. But, I didn't have my camera at the ready like you! ;)

Now, after my initial response, I'd also think about cropping out the left side, the OOF cattail...

Tim!

Nice shot, Phil. I too remember snipe "hunts" as a kid.
As for a comment, please remember I don't know how to do this yet, but could you "clone out" the cat tail running parallel and then perpendicular to the bill? It sort of looks like his mouth is agape. If not, hey you still got a really cool shot of a hard to find bird in his environment!! Thanks for sharing.

Yeah, the bent cattail is a distraction, but let's put it this way--this is one more snipe shot than I'll ever get. So good job!

I would crop from the left to eliminate the FG OOF stalks. The bent stalk could be cloned out, as Bruce suggests...but doing it well (i.e. seamlessly) would be a major, major project. I'm getting nervous twitches just thinking about dealing with that area where the cattail and the snipe's head merge.

Very nice catch, Phil. I agree with the other comments about the distracting reeds, but any sharp shot of a rare bird/life bird is a keeper in my book. I'd love to have one in my files!

Yes, nice catch. With their habits it is hard to get one where we want them.