Common Snipe
Don't be left holding the bag when you start painting this one.
By: Jerry Poindexter
Photography by Gary Kramer
Is the common snipe (Gallinago gallinago) a game bird or shorebird? People hunt it but the taxonomic name of Scolopacidal places it with the shorebirds. Wherever the snipe belongs, it’s a stocky, short-winged bird between 9 and 11 inches in length. It has a long, straight bill and complex camouflage markings. It feeds in marshes on crane flies, locusts, and grasshoppers. The common snipe has seven pairs of stubby tail feathers, making it different from the Wilson’s snipe, which has eight.
The measurements for the pattern and painting notes were taken from study skins provided by friends living in Liberty Lake, Washington, and St. Maries, Idaho.
Read the complete article in Wildfowl Carving Magazine's Winter 2013 issue.