Below at left is a scene from this morning with a resting painted-snipe, part-obscured and faithful to its loggy spot and its dock. A Latham’s Snipe is nearby. (There were about 10 Latham’s active in the general area as well as a Spotted Crake.) As Kevin Windle remarked, the male p-snipe in that position seems very like an ordinary snipe. However a closer look shows the head pattern as quite different, apart from the footy guernsey. Although the crown stripe and an eye-stripe are common to both species, the head of the painted-snipe is dark except for those features – although not as dark as the female. A is a Latham’s Snipe; B is one of our previous painted-snipe; C is the current painted-snipe.
The dock is an unwelcome weed, and notoriously hard to uproot if you have one in the garden. It is said offer relief from a nettle sting if you rub it on your skin, It seems a typical weed, but I find there are native docks belonging to the widespread genus Rumex. This one looks like an introduction to me, possibly the Curled Dock R crispus.
