TAIL LIKE A SAIL: Suffering a deep puncture to the abdomen from a cat, this wounded Wilson's snipe was on antibiotics for eight days at Powell River Orphaned Wildlife Society.
The cat’s owner felt so bad about his pet’s behaviour that he bought two cat collars offered by PROWLS.
Even though the snipe is a small, freshwater marsh bird with a beak several times the length of its head for probing dirt for worms, it was moved in with a dunlin, a smaller ocean-shore bird with a not-as-long beak made for digging in the sand and saltwater for bugs.
For now they both hide out within the deep grasses in their kennel and are not in competition.
When alarmed, the snipe’s tail can turn at right angles to its body like a sail.
The snipe’s bill has a flexible tip, which allows it to grasp food deep in the wet mud while the base of the bill stays closed. It is most active at dawn and dusk.
Contributed photo
