In the Open

I think I was the only midwestern kid ever to have actually seen a Wilson’s Snipe before hearing the legend of the “snipe hunt.” But as soon as I heard the story of pillowcases and flashlights, it made sense; at times, this can be a tough bird to see except in retreat, when it appears as little more than a fast-moving orange-tailed scraimp. Sometimes, though, they do show up in odd places, out in the open. 

This bird was in the middle of a newly peeled sod field yesterday afternoon in Pinal County, a considerable distance from the nearest cattail tangle. It fed calmly as we watched it, rocking gently in that strange vertiginous way that calm and happy snipe have.