Vocalizations of female Great Snipe Gallinago media at the lek

Abstract

The occurrence of loud vocalizations by female Great Snipe Gallinago media is reported for the first time. Such female loud calls were easily distinguished in the field from the male vocalizations. The female behaviour associated with the vocalizations resembled male display postures. Sonagrams show a structural resemblance with part of the male display call . The female loud call consisted of short notes with a large frequency spectrum repeated 18-27 times in 1 to 1 .5 seconds. In 1992 a total of 96 female loud calls were heard at three leks in central Norway, including 63 at a single lek. Loud calls were heard from 22 May to 7 June, and the median date was 25 May. Loud calls occurred throughout the night from 23.20 to 02.51 h, with a peak around 02.00 h (summertime) . Loud female vocalization seems to be a regularly occurring behaviour pattern for Great Snipe. Other female vocalizations heard on Great Snipe leks included flight calls, "walk calls" and faint postcopulatory calls.