🪵Wood Snipe Project: Fog, Trackers, and a Decoy (Raincoat Version)

6.6 Day 6

Dr. Que, CoCo, and Shou arrived with new supplies. After multiple train delays, we finally received the new trackers. They also brought our most powerful tool—Dr. Zheng’s carefully crafted Wood Snipe model. Huge thanks to CoCo for securely packing and transporting both the trackers and the model (decoy) all the way from Chengdu.

Our old friend, the male bird that calls the most near our camp, was finally caught after three days—just in time to wear this first new tracker. During the day, we used the usual method of only mist nests to capture him. In the evening, we tested a new approach: a combination of the decoy, call playback, and mist nets.

Since Wood Snipes likely have decent night vision, we wanted to see if visual lures would help attract them into the net. The air was thick with fog, humidity near 100%. The paint on the decoy felt like it was starting to soften from the moisture. To protect it, we quickly made a DIY raincoat, instantly turning it into the fanciest-looking decoy in the field.

Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t on our side. The Wood Snipes weren’t very active in their display flights that night, and the decoy’s debut ended in failure. The makeshift raincoat was soaked in no time—proving that without it, the decoy wouldn’t have stood a chance.