Common Snipe Gallinago gallinago feeding on a December day
Two Common Snipe Gallinago gallinago took up brief residence in a small London park during an uncharacteristically cold snap in December, feeding along a slow-moving, muddy channel that had still not frozen over despite below zero temperatures. This film shows one of these birds feeding, eventually joining a second bird that had simply not been noticed! Their bills are remarkably sensitive, particularly at the tip where there are numerous nerve cells, and flexible - useful adaptations if one considers the fact that most of what they will eat needs to be detected purely by touch as their prey cannot be seen when buried deep in the mud. A series of still photographs taken during the same visit precedes the moving images.
