Undoubtedy it has been a good year for Latham’s Snipe. We have speculated in this place whether this is due to drying of some areas or disturbance, eg at FSP. Perhaps that, perhaps something else. One very noticeable behaviour that has received comment has been aggression between individuals. More than 10 years ago I videoed an example of this right in front of the Bittern Hide, and I thought it was unusual then, perhaps some unseasonal hormonal stirring. However, this season there seems to be agonism all over the place - typically a momentary flurry when an aggressive individual confronts and evicts another from a particular spot, apparently a momentary territorial thing. . This morning’s episode was of a different character. Two resting birds came to life in a prolonged confrontation marked by tensely facing one another – in either crouching or upright postures – first 2 snaps in below selection. Then every few minutes they would leap in the air like fighting roosters, before dropping down to resume the tense staring and circling. This lasted from 0710 to 0745, a remarkable waste of energy if it served no biological purpose - but what purpose, in the sense of evolutionary benefit, could there have been? At 0750 both birds were within a couple of metres of one another on the dying mud, one resting, one feeding. These were straight across the swamp from the faintly tobacco-flavoured Cygnus hide - something of a photographic challenge with fast-moving blackbird-sized birds, but the light was friendly.
