Whimsy on Painted Snipe, foxes & signs

["Philip Veerman" <>]

There has not been a mention of the Painted Snipe at Kelly's swamp for a while. Indeed I will string a few obscurely unrelated mental wanderings together. The number of Painted Snipe appeared to go from 2 to 3 to 4 and then after a sign was put up nearby asking people not to enter the area, to not disturb the birds, the birds appear to have gone. I for one am not convinced that a small number of people with cameras or binoculars are a danger or disturbance to these birds. Indeed these birds tend to sit fairly tightly and not fly far if disturbed. There is plenty of long grass for them to hide in, which they clearly did very effectively. I also note reports of a fox in the area. I believe a fox is a likely threat to these birds. I note that foxes do tend to run away from people and have a far greater flight distance from people than do Painted Snipe. I raise the thought with no actual evidence and equal lack of evidence to the contrary, that the birds have actually gone and postulate the possibility that a fox was involved. I propose that a sign discouraging people from going near the area (if adhered to) could reduce people presence and remove a strong disincentive for foxes to hunt there and that this could greatly raise the threat to the birds. So was the well-meaning sign a help?

 

This idea put forward on the principle that there may be a variety of ways of interpreting a situation.

 

Philip