Close encounters of the Snipe kind, and other Ken Caryl news

[David Suddjian]

The Wilson's Snipe continues to occupy the wetland along Massey Draw below my home, winnowing nightly. A Virginia Rail is also present in the same marsh, but it has much less to say. In the last few days I've been down beside the marsh at nightfall. The snipe usually begins to chip or winnow in the first few minutes after 9:00 pm. 

On Sunday evening (6/26) I discovered that I can do a whistled imitation of the chirpy chipping call that is good enough to attract the snipe! (Actually, I think it is a pretty poor imitation, but it works for Mr. Snipe. Or maybe he is just really hoping another snipe will appear, as I have no evidence that there is anyone here but him.) I did my imitation soon after he began chipping and he buzzed past me a few times, and then landed about 25 feet away along a paved path that skirts the edge of the wetland. When I stood still he stayed there on the path, eyeing me and giving chipping calls from time to time. When I moved a bit he vanished. We repeated these encounters several times, and once he flew in and landed just 7 feet away from me, glaring at me in the gloaming.

I went back down there this morning (6/28) near sunrise, with better lighting. I did my imitation and he immediately responded and flew in and landed on the path, giving me the eye (it's one eye at a time with snipe...). For the heck of it, I've inserted an iPhone pic to show the scene. He is the brown blob along the left edge of the path. Not too exciting to look at in the photo, but exciting to be there with him.

Another highlight this morning was a Chimney Swift foraging over the Ken Caryl Ranch Equestrian Center. This was my first sighting in Ken Caryl Valley. It is a good year for Lazuli Buntings in the valley here with many around, and in the last few days a couple have been singing near my house, too. A Common Yellowthroat has been present along Massey below my home for several days, another species that is - I think - unusual in Ken Caryl Valley in the nesting season.

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David Suddjian

Littleton, CO