Warning! Cover your eyes if you can't stand the photo, please

@sallypup (58088)
Centralia, Washington
September 20, 2017 1:54pm CST
I discovered this little guy when I headed out to my car this morning. Quite a handsome water bird and so very not alive. I do not find death to be gruesome except, you know, when the parts of the entity are not in order. I posted a photo to Facebook and asked a couple of birder buddys:what am I looking at? Two of them agreed that this beauty is a Wilson's Snipe. Note the long beak. Fascinates me. Its beak is scissor like. I imagine it would snack on little bugs and maybe algae. So go in peace, little buddy. I am sorry to have learned of your species in this way. In a bit I will take the pick ax to dirt and build a hole for you to rest in. Know that you are a fascinating creature. I've sure I've heard you and not known exactly what made the melody. Bless you, avian friend. Bless you and farewell.
7 people like this
6 responses
Just an Ordinary Owl?
@owlwings (43915)
• Cambridge, England
20 Sep 17
Yes, it's a snipe (though I couldn't have said what kind). They are waders and feed on worms and other things which live in mud and catches them by poking its bill into the mud until it encounters something good to eat. How it knows what is good to eat and what is not is a mystery to me but I imagine that it has very sensitive touch or taste nerves at the beak tip. Snipe used to be a popular game bird (of course, it's protected in many places now). They have a very erratic mode of flight which makes them quite difficult to hit and thus 'good game'. They were (and, perhaps, still are) cooked plucked and skinned but not drawn and served one per person, often on toast, as an entrée. The word 'sniper', meaning shooting at something from a hidden position, comes from the sport of snipe shooting.
3 people like this
Lenore Plassman
@sallypup (58088)
• Centralia, Washington
20 Sep 17
@owlwings Thanks! Sure good to get your educated answer. Birders buddies over here said that maybe a museum would want the bird so I bagged it and put it in my freezer for safe keeping.
3 people like this
Lenore Plassman
@sallypup (58088)
• Centralia, Washington
20 Sep 17
@owlwings I was just thinking about that. I did find a feather on the ground and am keeping it for its beauty. There is a window in that area but the bird would have had to get through some messy rosebushes to hit that glass.
2 people like this
Lenore Plassman
@sallypup (58088)
• Centralia, Washington
20 Sep 17
@owlwings This bird sure does not have much flesh to it. I'd think a hungry person would need to eat more than two to satisfy their appetite.
1 person likes this
Juliaacv
@Juliaacv (48537)
• Canada
20 Sep 17
Sad indeed. So noble of you to look after him after-the-fact.
2 people like this
Lenore Plassman
@sallypup (58088)
• Centralia, Washington
20 Sep 17
@Juliaacv I admit that I wouldn't have done so much for the bird if it had been say, a starling. This guy just intrigued me.
2 people like this
celticeagle
@celticeagle (159452)
• Boise, Idaho
20 Sep 17
Yes, go in peace. Some have to die I guess to keep the population at a good number.
2 people like this
Oshy
@TiarasOceanView (70035)
• United States
20 Sep 17
Aw wot a shame Lenore the poor lovely bird.
1 person likes this
Lenore Plassman
@sallypup (58088)
• Centralia, Washington
20 Sep 17
@TiarasOceanView Its a horrid way to meet a bird I have been curious about.
1 person likes this
Valerie J. Routhieaux
@just4him (307029)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
20 Sep 17
He is a fascinating looking bird. I've never seen one.
1 person likes this
Lenore Plassman
@sallypup (58088)
• Centralia, Washington
21 Sep 17
@just4him Especially its beak.
1 person likes this
Lenore Plassman
@sallypup (58088)
• Centralia, Washington
21 Sep 17
@just4him Its a beak that is unusual for sure.
1 person likes this
Valerie J. Routhieaux
@just4him (307029)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
21 Sep 17
@sallypup I had to look twice to see it when you mentioned it in your post. I didn't realize that was its beak at first.
1 person likes this
Kharla Jolly
@kobesbuddy (74745)
• East Tawas, Michigan
20 Sep 17
Birds are one of my favorite parts, of nature. I love them!
1 person likes this
Lenore Plassman
@sallypup (58088)
• Centralia, Washington
20 Sep 17
@kobesbuddy Me, too. At first when the Bureau of Land Management foisted the creek on us, I was pretty mad. Then I noted all the various kinds of birds winging over me to get to the creek and I kind of liked it.
1 person likes this
Lenore Plassman
@sallypup (58088)
• Centralia, Washington
20 Sep 17
@kobesbuddy That must have been gorgeous as well as tragic. Did it have red on its head?
1 person likes this
Kharla Jolly
@kobesbuddy (74745)
• East Tawas, Michigan
20 Sep 17
@sallypup It was beautifully marked, and the mate kept crying out through the trees, trying to fine it:(
1 person likes this