Jack Snipe is a tough guy
This Jack Snipe was photographed during winter 2006. Photo copyright Pekka Sarvela , thanks to him for allowing me to use it. The Jack Snipe (Lymnocryptes minumus) is a small stocky wader. It is the smallest snipe, and the only member of the genus Lymnocryptes . Their breeding habitat is marshes, bogs, tundra and wet meadows with short vegetation in northern Europe and northern Russia. Jack Snipes are migratory, spending the non-breeding period in Great Britain, Atlantic and Mediterranean coastal Europe, Africa, and India. But... did you know that part of the Jack Snipe population spend winters up here in the north, up to 62nd latitude. They are able survive in very small ditches and brooks, open drains and industrial areas where warm condensation water is let out to nature. Naturally, the weather in the end of autumn affects directly to the number of overwintering snipes. During winter 2000/2001, after warm autumn, 116 Jack Snipes were found from southern Finland....