March 21st, 2013
These are images of Common Snipe, except for the last image which is a Jack Snipe. They are shy birds and tend to feed at the edge of reed beds and with their markings they are very difficult to spot and photograph. The Jack Snipe in the bottom photograph is a much rarer bird and apart from the shorter beak, smaller size and slight marking differences it is its bobbing up and down action that helps identify it. My image of the Jack Snipe is quite poor quality as the bird was far away and constantly bobbing up and down, never the less it was picked by Cambs Birds as a contender for Image of the month and I quote "Geoff Harries' Jack Snipe is superb: he has caught the hunched jizz perfectly and the setting is classic Jack Snipe."
