Snipe or Woodcock?

[Michael Swaim <miaim@mebtel.net>]

This morning at Mason Farm, in addition to the usual winter birds, two 
of us were treated to a ~30sec. flight of a very long billed, round 
bodied bird that never made a sound. We both got the bird solidly in our 
binoculars and were able to each keep it there for the duration of it's 
rather slow but erratic flight. At the time, we both individually 
decided that it was an American Woodcock. After it landed silently in 
the long grasses to be forever lost again, we looked it up in Peterson's 
and decided again that it was an Am. Woodcock.  Looking at the 
observation log, another observer logged Am. Woodcock in the evening of 
Dec. 16 in the parking area. This would seem to confirm, however, our 
sighting was at 10:20am in full sun. 

Since then, I've been looking in some other guides, and think that the 
shape was perhaps more like a Common Snipe. We'll probably never know 
what it really was, but it sure was nice to see something significantly 
different from the typical winter residents there.  Highlights of the 
other birds seen there this morning included:
Hermit thrushes
both Kinglets
towhees
Redwinged and Rusty headed blackbirds
Yellow-rumped warblers
Red-bellied woodpecker
Yellow bellied Sapsucker
Winter Wren
Red Tailed hawk
Goldfinches
and some of the bluest bluebirds
and an incredible number of flickers

All in all 26 species of birds, plus white-tailed deer and numerous mice 
including some that seemed abnormally large, but weren't rats.

Mike Swaim
wandering