The Wilson’s Snipe is one of the most abundant and widespread shorebirds in North America. However, due to its elusive nature, it is difficult to monitor. Nevertheless, its overall numbers appear to have been increasing moderately since the late 1960s and early 1970s. The species is hunted at low levels both in Canada and the United States. In both countries, harvest levels have shown a gradual decline relative to the end of the 1970s, but appear to have stabilized in the last decade. This species has been identified as a priority for conservation and/or stewardship in one or more Bird Conservation Region Strategies in Canada.
Given that the Wilson’s Snipe depends on wetlands throughout its life cycle, the draining and conversion of wetlands is detrimental to this species. Other threats include collisions with communication towers, buildings, and cars (Mueller 1999). An assessment was conducted in 2009 to identify priority information needs for rails and snipes (Case and McCool 2009). One of the resulting recommendations was to undertake national monitoring programs aimed at identifying population sizes and trends in abundance, and to evaluate the potential importance of habitats and harvest levels at the range-wide scale, including in Canada, the U.S., and Mexico (Case and McCool 2009). In Canada and the U.S., the Great Lakes Marsh Monitoring Program implements these recommendations by monitoring population abundance and habitat of rail and snipe species, including the Wilson’s Snipe (Tozer 2013).
Environment and Climate Change Canada and partners have developed Bird Conservation Region Strategies in each of Canada’s Bird Conservation Regions (BCRs). In these strategies, selected species are identified as priorities for one or more of the following reasons:
Select any of the sub-regions below to view the BCR strategy for additional details.
