Update:
more pics from Sept 30 added at the bottom:
This presumed Wilson's Snipe Gallinago
delicata was photographed
near Fort Worth, Texas September 28, 2003; it was the only snipe
seen at the site:
Note especially the strong brown wash on the flank barring, the
very narrow black bars in the tertials, and the rich buff edges
to the scapulars - these are are supposed to be good indicators
for Common Snipe Gallinago gallinago: Update:
more pics from Sept 30:
In the image above, note the central chest (in the buff area)
is barred, not streaked; this is supposed to be a good feature
for gallinago, while delicata should have fairly
obvious vertical streaking.
In the images below, the left flanks are shown to be strongly
buffy/brown, and the left tertials have thicker pale bars than
dark bars:
I just missed getting more of the wing detail in these next two
photos:- the basal under primary coverts were strongly tipped
white -
while the upperwing secondary coverts were quite dark:
I saw it fly twice: the underwing coverts had a lot of white in
them, but I did not get a feel for the white secondary tips other
than that they were present and noticable. I looked for it subsequently,
but have not seen it again; two normal-looking delicata
snipe were in the same pool two days later.
