Capturing Jack Snipe Lymnocryptes minimus with mobile horizontally held nets

Abstract

The biology of the Jack Snipe Lymnocryptes minimus is poorly known and recent estimates of its population size are contradictory. To encourage ringing and marking studies of this cryptic species, we tested and improved a trapping technique in the Camargue during winter and migration periods. This capture method consists of walking with a horizontally-held net across sites where Jack Snipe regularly occur to catch birds that are flushed from beneath the net. We compared the catching rates of a 5 m × 10 m net and a 10 m × 10 m net. A total of 40 Jack Snipes was caught during 48 hours of trials with the two nets. Of the total number of individuals flushed, the average capture rate was 23% with the small net and 49% with the larger one, this difference being statistically significant. This method, therefore, appears to be appropriate for catching good numbers of Jack Snipe. © 2005 British Trust for Ornithology.