Great Snipe.
13th June 2022
Great Snipe is always a special bird to find even on Lesvos and one had been showing, albeit infrequently on a rapidly drying up muddy area not too far away from where we were based in Skalla Kalloni. Therefore, although we don’t really chase around after birds there because there’s no point given the wealth of birdlife on the island, it was worth driving a few miles to try and see it. When we arrived there was a group of young Greek birders/photographers there which was unusual but refreshing to see and they were very polite and friendly as indeed are most people in Greek society. I could see though that they were keeping away from a group of about six people who were what I term masquerading as birders because the three women of the group were so noisy. They were just talking and laughing as if they were in a local taverna. I’ve got nothing against enjoying yourself but there’s a time and a place. These people were probably very nice but how do they expect to see a bird like a Great Snipe behaving like that. I asked the young Greeks if the bird had shown and they said no – hardly surprising! They left and we went straight after them to explore somewhere else a bit disappointed by these people.
I saw on our bird app that the Snipe had been seen a few days later, although I knew the mud had become very dry and it obviously wouldn’t be too long before the bird located to a more suitable habitat. With this in mind late one afternoon Susan and I decided to have one more try because most birders call it a day at this time because of the heat. We had also read that the Snipe had been seen in a narrow channel that fed the now dried up pool with water.
When we arrived there it was deserted – great! We approached carefully trying to see into the channel which disappointingly was impossible without getting out of the car, which was not a good idea because we would have spooked the bird – Snipe are easily spooked! However, as we moved along slowly there was a gap of about ten feet in the channel banking which allowed us to see into the channel itself. We waited, there was no option because this was the only viable watch point. I was in the front of the car and Susan was on the back seat just waiting and waiting and it was hot – the late afternoon sun was very intense and the light was very harsh – not good for photographing anything.
After a relatively short while and to our total surprise there came the Snipe.
Probing the still soft mud in the channel, this was why it had left the main pool area – the channel floor was in shade from the sun and therefore was softer for feeding. I waited for it to come into full view and proceeded to take a few shots, it totally ignored us in the car, if we had got out I’m sure things would have been much different, cars are great hides. I couldn’t believe how close we were, less than ten feet from a mega bird like that was epic.
If I had been using my Canon ef600 there would have been no shot because the minimum focussing distance is about fifteen feet, zoom lenses are very useful in these situations. We watched and photographed this lovely bird, albeit in very difficult light until it wandered up the channel and disappeared out of view but we were grateful for what we had. It just goes to show that without noisy people birds will come much closer, it just takes a little common sense.
We left for a shower and change of clothes back at the hotel and enjoyed a delicious Greek salad and a few cold ones at the local taverna, which is the place to talk and laugh!
I saw on our bird app that the Snipe had been seen a few days later, although I knew the mud had become very dry and it obviously wouldn’t be too long before the bird located to a more suitable habitat. With this in mind late one afternoon Susan and I decided to have one more try because most birders call it a day at this time because of the heat. We had also read that the Snipe had been seen in a narrow channel that fed the now dried up pool with water.
When we arrived there it was deserted – great! We approached carefully trying to see into the channel which disappointingly was impossible without getting out of the car, which was not a good idea because we would have spooked the bird – Snipe are easily spooked! However, as we moved along slowly there was a gap of about ten feet in the channel banking which allowed us to see into the channel itself. We waited, there was no option because this was the only viable watch point. I was in the front of the car and Susan was on the back seat just waiting and waiting and it was hot – the late afternoon sun was very intense and the light was very harsh – not good for photographing anything.
After a relatively short while and to our total surprise there came the Snipe.
Probing the still soft mud in the channel, this was why it had left the main pool area – the channel floor was in shade from the sun and therefore was softer for feeding. I waited for it to come into full view and proceeded to take a few shots, it totally ignored us in the car, if we had got out I’m sure things would have been much different, cars are great hides. I couldn’t believe how close we were, less than ten feet from a mega bird like that was epic.
If I had been using my Canon ef600 there would have been no shot because the minimum focussing distance is about fifteen feet, zoom lenses are very useful in these situations. We watched and photographed this lovely bird, albeit in very difficult light until it wandered up the channel and disappeared out of view but we were grateful for what we had. It just goes to show that without noisy people birds will come much closer, it just takes a little common sense.
We left for a shower and change of clothes back at the hotel and enjoyed a delicious Greek salad and a few cold ones at the local taverna, which is the place to talk and laugh!