Snipe or?

[SheffieldLass]

I briefly saw a pair of birds that had long somewhat down-curved bills, alongside a local brook in a marshy bit of wet woodland. Unfortunately it was only their heads and upper back (back view) I saw, their legs were hidden behind a mound of snow. I was also looking into the light so they were silhouetted, and monochrome, and there was nothing to scale them with. Given the location my first thought was snipe, but they usually appear to have very straight beaks, whereas these were more like a curlew's in shape. There were some snipe further down the brook, and they were much easier to see, and they did have straight beaks, and no doubt as to what they were.

So I was wondering, does the bill of snipe ever appear down curved? If not, I can only think they were curlew. It was only about 8 miles from the sea, and only 2 miles to a big but now frozen lake, and given the strange places birds are turning up because of the weather, not too surprising perhaps.

[Adam Cheeseman]

No, snipe bills never have downturned bills. Curlews are also much larger than snipe. I would guess that under the conditions what you saw were snipe but with an optical illusion giving the impression of a downturned bill.

cheers

adam

[Hobjob]

Whimbrel?

[aeshna5]

Originally Posted by Hobjob

Whimbrel?

I think unlikely as apart from not really ideal habitat it's fairly unsual (though odd birds do) for them to overwinter. Away from the northern breeding grounds they are mainly a passage bird.

[Guinnessman1974]

How about Dunlin as their bills are slightly down-turned?

[diggleken]

Melanie, have you any more info, to lend to the overall jizz, it may help - did they fly, if so anything noticeable, wingbeats wingshape etc etc? Length of bill in relation to body etc etc might just lead to more informed guesses too.
Cheers
Ken

[SheffieldLass]

No, no other information really. At first I just saw a movement out of the corner of my eye, thought it was a blackbird Well the only things that I'd seen in the wood were a few blackbirds and pheasants. And the movement looked too small to be a pheasant. When I looked through binoculars I couldn't see anything there at all. They must have ducked behind the snow bank. I walked a few steps further on. Then I spotted another movement from the same place, and this time I caught them peeking their heads over the snow bank, backs to me, heads looking round, so I saw their beaks in profile, and the top part of their backs, but they obviously didn't like me so disappeared again behind the snow bank. That was it .... I got a real shock seeing that they were waders ... not what I was expecting at all. They didn't fly off, just moved away surruptitiously. No calls. And I suspect the 'small' movement I saw initially was just their heads which they ducked. The snipe further down flew off immediately as I approached. So a different sort of behaviour. Though I was a bit closer to the stream there. And they were singles, this was a pair.

And too big for Dunlin. Beaks were definitely on the long side, but not sure they were quite as long in relation to the head as curlew, which is about 3x the head. Snipe is about 2x, (looking at the various pics). My gut feeling it was more like the snipe ratio. But there did appear to be this distinct downturn to it.

[diggleken]

Originally Posted by SheffieldLass

No, no other information really. At first I just saw a movement out of the corner of my eye, thought it was a blackbird Well the only things that I'd seen in the wood were a few blackbirds and pheasants. And the movement looked too small to be a pheasant. When I looked through binoculars I couldn't see anything there at all. They must have ducked behind the snow bank. I walked a few steps further on. Then I spotted another movement from the same place, and this time I caught them peeking their heads over the snow bank, backs to me, heads looking round, so I saw their beaks in profile, and the top part of their backs, but they obviously didn't like me so disappeared again behind the snow bank. That was it .... I got a real shock seeing that they were waders ... not what I was expecting at all. They didn't fly off, just moved away surruptitiously. No calls. And I suspect the 'small' movement I saw initially was just their heads which they ducked. The snipe further down flew off immediately as I approached. So a different sort of behaviour. Though I was a bit closer to the stream there. And they were singles, this was a pair.

And too big for Dunlin. Beaks were definitely on the long side, but not sure they were quite as long in relation to the head as curlew, which is about 3x the head. Snipe is about 2x, (looking at the various pics). My gut feeling it was more like the snipe ratio. But there did appear to be this distinct downturn to it.

Hi Melanie,
that helps a little more - I dont think were going to be able to tie it down too definitively, but in my view, the behaviour and bill size, and I know you are an experienced observer, the downcurved beak and size leads me to Curlew - juveniles especially have a much shorter beak than adults, the longest of which is the male.
Straight beaked snipe and woodcock would normally scoot away pretty quickly, but longish downcurved and described behaviour leads me to only one bird at this time of year - juvenile Curlew.
A clincher would be if you spotted a white rump on flyaway........................
Cheers
Ken

[Dogghound]

Originally Posted by diggleken

juveniles especially have a much shorter beak than adults, the longest of which is the male.

Female's have longer bill's than males (as with most waders). Juvenile male curlew's have a relatively short bill.

As for the OP Curlew, Snipe or woodcock, plenty around this area.

[diggleken]

cheers Dogg, thanks for noticing my hasty mistake.
Quite right, juveniles still quite a bit shorter in both sexes of course.
Cheers
Ken