More than ten years of monitoring
Monitoring of populations snipe and whisk in migration and wintering in Italy undertaken by FIdC already in 2010 needs greater participation to integrate as much data as possible. The aquatic environments that host these species in recent years have been suffering greatly from climate and agricultural change, for this reason we must further expand the audience of hunters/collaborators. To do this we created a new, more simplified hunting journal and created a short guide for harvesting wings. The project is divided into two parts: data collection on kills/sightings and wing collection. The study of the wings and rectrices allows us to understand the relationship between juveniles and adults (reproductive success) and to evaluate the trend between males and females in order to understand any variations in the structure and dynamics of the wintering populations on Italian territory. The collection of data on sightings and killings also allows us to calculate cinegetic indices which will provide useful information on the demography and consequently the status of the populations of the two scolopacids.
Instructions for harvesting wings
Any hunter who kills one of these species can participate in wing harvesting, even if it is not his specific hunt, by following the instructions indicated.
The cut of the wing must take place at the base of the shoulder. The wings, before being inserted into a PAPER bag, must be well opened and left to dry by placing them, for example, on a sheet of cardboard/polystyrene/wood placed on the ground under the radiator. In order to help the wing dry correctly, it is useful to sprinkle salt on the cut part
Fig. 1 Example of how the wing to be delivered should look like
2. Any paper envelope can be used or pre-filled project-specific envelopes can be requested from the Secretariat of the FIdC Studies and Research Office via the following email: [email protected].
3. For each individual snipe or whipper, remove only one wing, right or left, depending on the best state of conservation. For each individual, use only one envelope indicating the place (Province), the date of killing, the weight and sex on a sheet of paper to insert inside the envelope or package.
4. For each individual killed by snipe and whip it is essential to also send the helmsmen (as in figure 2) to also know the sex (in the snipe) and age (in the whip). Clearly the tails of the killed animal must be sent together with the wing, inserting them in the same envelope with the wing, therefore, they must absolutely not be mixed with other subjects otherwise the work would be in vain.
Fig. 2 Example of the rectrices of a female (left) and male (right) individual
Fig. 3 Image of the specific paper bag for collecting snipe wings and whiskers
5. The envelopes must be sent preferably within the month of February to the attention of the FIdC Studies and Research Office at the national headquarters of the Italian Hunting Federation: Via Garigliano, 57, 00198 Rome RM. Tel: 06 844 0941.
Snipe and whisk data collection
To participate in the data collection of shootings and sightings, a minimum level of consistency in hunting is required, so anyone who dedicates a minimum of 10 outings to snipe and/or snipe hunting during the season will be able to join the project. It will be sufficient to fill in the "HUNTING DIARY" specifically for dedicated outings. The diary can be easily downloaded at this link: https://www.federcaccia.org/diari-di-caccia-il-nostro-strumento-per-la-raccolta-dati/ or you can request the paper version via this email: [email protected]. In both cases, at the end of the season the Diary must be returned by sending it to the national headquarters of the Italian Hunting Federation: Via Garigliano, 57, 00198 Rome RM. Tel: 06 844 0941 or it can be scanned and sent by email (always the one indicated above). The importance of filling out the Diary in all its parts is fundamental and it will be presented as follows, for any clarification you can contact the FIdC Studies and Research Office 06/844094202-204, [email protected] (source: FIDC).