Haven’t seen those painted-snipe for a few
days. Maybe gone. Reflecting on the views offered when they
were here, I am struck by the unusual butterfly-like quality
of the wings. In the below, you might thing I have flipped
the images, but they show the extended left wing (L) and right
wing (R). Therefore the elaborate pattern of the left
forewing is completely obscured when the wing is folded (right
and below). Coloured arrows indicate roughly what I take to
be the corresponding parts of the wing, eg the yellow arrow
shows the ‘vermiculated’ parts (are they ‘secondary
coverts’). One wonders what purpose is served by this
pattern - perhaps the enhancing of the bluff display,
perhaps something related to reproduction (although this is a
female). The green arrow shows the rear-looking eye, giving
360 vision - a capacity lost with the kind of wing extension
shown on the right.
