Sunday, December 04, 2011

snipe starling



a starling looking very smart after the autumn moult. The new feathers have creamy tips that stand out from the dark background, and the back feathers are paler brown than in the summer. Below is a snipe caught in mid flight. This was one of a party of 6 or 7,  small groups like this are called wisps. There are two types of snipe, common and Jack. This is probably the common snipe becausethe wisp was feeding on very damp marsh land. They are extremely quick on the wing.


2 comments:

Tara said...

And are you on the camera! Nice shot! (Of course, I enlarged for a closer look!)

Spot said...

no, as usual we were running in the opposite direction!