Three male great snipes carrying miniature GPS transmitters are back from Africa, bringing very interesting information on the behavior and migration strategies of this exceptional species. Thanks to the GPS technology, the hard work of the team of ornithologists, and, above all, the outstanding effort of great snipes themselves (as it is them, after all, who covered the distance), we could trace – as the first ones in the world – the actual flight itinerary of these birds. 

Existing data concerning migrations of great snipes were derived exclusively from geolocators, which are able to identify only the approximate (± 100-200 km) location of the birds.

At the outset we need to mention that some of our great snipes covered a distance of up to 4900 km between their breeding grounds and the Sahel area without a single stop! Even more interesting was to discover how fast can they move during this spectacular flight.

As it turned out, one of our heroes covered the distance of 4 570 km between Ivory Coast and Italy in less than two days, achieving an average speed of 98 km/h. The maximum flight speed registered by this transmitter was equal to 161 km/h.The maximum speed of another individual was even higher, 165 km/h, but the average speed was not as spectacular as it was "only" slightly over 80 km/h.

These results once again distinguish spectacular achievements of the great snipe, placing it in the top 10 highest recorded speeds achieved by the birds. Further details on the migration strategy of our great snipes have been presented at this year's conference Wader Study Group in Iceland and at the conference commemorating 55 years of Operation Baltic: "Contemporary ringing of birds - scientific and ethical aspects."

Our great snipes are in Africa since August. Let's keep our fingers crossed for their return, which, we hope, will bring further discoveries about this little known and, as it turns out, exceptionally interesting species.

Michał Korniluk

Fig. 1. Migration routes of three male great snipes (Michał Korniluk)