The activities of the secretive Latham’s or Japanese Snipe at a newly recorded feeding location in Moyne Shire have been revealed this week. As part of testing remote sensing camera equipment already used in The St Helens Biolink Project to monitor foxes, feral cats, and Southern Brown Bandicoots – the Basalt to Bay Landcare Network has added snipe to the list of things proven to exist in the St Helens area.

By locating a camera on the edge of a wetland at bird height, a whole gamut of wetland users have been snapped by the camera – including the snipe, ducks, ravens, foxes, and ibis.

Landcare Network facilitator Lisette Mill said “It shows again what an important contribution the St Helens landscape adds to habitat for both local species and international travellers like these snipe. We are stoked. We were also very lucky that the camera didn’t drown as the water levels surged over this past month of filming”.

Latham’s Snipe are a gorgeous wetland bird that is the subject of a current collaborative study between Japan and Australia to monitor their travelling route using tiny transmitters. Records of sightings of the birds as they arrive from Japan to summer vacation along the coast of Australia from Queensland to South Australia are being collected by volunteers in many States. There are a number of locations where the birds have been recorded in SW Victoria – and this latest proof of occupancy at St Helens adds a new data set to them. Monitoring at St Helens will continue over the summer.

For more information about the Latham’s Snipe Program visit
https://lathamssnipeproject.wordpress.com/

For more information about The St Helens Biolink Project visit www.basalttobay.org.au/


Photo taken of snipe by remote camera at St Helens Victoria attached. Note date and time stamp on image.