Wilson's Snipe (Bécassine de Wilson)

Ellacott Lookout

Cambridge, ON

13 October 2016

     Miriam had to go into Cambridge to pick up a blade for one of her fabric cutters so we decided to go together and check out the bird life at Ellacott Lookout afterwards.    

The Speed River from Ellacott Lookout

     We were very happy to locate four Wilson's Snipe Gallinago delicata feeding at some distance from the shore, along with five Killdeer Charadrius vociferus. 

Killdeer

    

Wilson's Snipe

     These two species of shorebird, along with Dunlin Calidris alpina, are among the latest to migrate southwards through our area. Their numbers will peak towards the end of October and a few may still be seen into early November.

     The following shot, albeit from a distance, shows a snipe snagging prey in its long, flexible bill. 

     Today, at the rare Charitable Research Reserve, also in Cambridge, I saw this Common Starling Sturnus vulgaris at the edge of a hole in a tree.

    It begs the question as to whether this species is still breeding at this late date, or whether the bird was simply taking shelter in the cavity. I suspect the latter, because I observed the bird for almost fifteen minutes and it never left its position. I assume that if it still had young it would have left to gather food to bring back to the nestlings.

     I apologize for the poor quality of these images but the zoom on my Canon Powershot 50 is unable to do any better.