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.
