Jack Snipe for the Year List!

Jack Snipe are a difficult bird to survey, let alone ring, so what are the chances to get a foreign recovery?

A quick look at the online reports shows that the chances of receiving a recovery of a Jack Snipe are pretty slim, with only only a couple of birds recovered in good years (see table). Most of the recoveries are from shot birds.

Ringed and Recovered Jack Snipes, from on-line reports

Year	Ringed	Recovered
2011	39	0
2010	89	1
2009	77	1
2008	72	2
2007	87	0
2006	97	2

They are generally only seen when they are flushed at a very short distance and the estimation of total wintering numbers is based on information from the British Association for Shooting and Conservation, not on actual 'in the field' counts. It has been calculated that apparently one Jack Snipe is shot for every 10 Common Snipe (in France and The Netherlands).

I am sure you all will agree with me that Jack Snipe are always a great find, in the field or in the net, and the same goes for processing recoveries. So that is why, so far, the highlight of the month has been a report received from the Hiddensee Bird Ringing Centre with the details of a Jack Snipe ringed as a juvenile in August 2007 in Burgstadt, Sachhsen, Germany. This bird saw the end of its days in St Austell (Cornwall) on the 14.01.2012 when it was shot.

View Jack Snipe for the year list in a larger map