The Craftiest Workshop

This spring and last spring, in the morning and the evening, we would often hear a bird with the oddest sound. The sound was ghost-like and always came from above. We would never see the bird and the sound seemed to echo. After getting the Merlin bird app, I was finally able to record the sound and found out which bird it was.

The bird is the Wilson’s Snipe. Flying to ward off predators, and sometimes to attract a mate, at speeds above 25km/hr, its tail feathers buzz making this sound. The method of making this sound is called winnowing. Have a listen.

We heard them A LOT on the really smoky days. I felt like we were in a Halloween movie.

Out checking our trees one day, my husband stumbled across a Wilson Snipe’s nest. The mother bird does a crazy dance, raising its tail feathers and makes an annoying squawk. It tries to be distracting so you will follow it away from the nest. Zoom in as you watch the video to see the bird better.

Since first discovering the nest, we tried not to disturb the mother too often in case she got spooked and then might abandon the nest.

It says online that the eggs get incubated for 18-20 days before they hatch.

The eggs were laid in some longer grass right on the edge of our front yard.
When we mow, we would drive within a foot of it.

We were out planting 150 spruce trees last weekend and decided to check on the eggs. It had been at least 14 days since we took the video of the mother doing its crazy dance. The baby birds had hatched and apparently they leave the nest within a day.

I hear the Snipe every day doing its arial dance and on clear days I can find it flying in the sky.

Our son that was visiting was surprised that this bird makes such an eerie sound.
Its physical appearance doesn’t quite seem to match.
Anyhow, I am glad to have solved the mystery of the ghostly sound we have been hearing all spring.
After seeing the four eggs hatched in the nest, I am sure we will have some Wilson’s Snipes back again next year.