Spatial monitoring of the courtship flight trajectory of Latham’s snipe
(Gallinago hardwickii) using microphone arrays
Abstract
1. This study is the first to quantitatively measure of the courtship
flights of Latham’s snipe (Gallinago hardwickii), a migratory shorebird
on the East Asian-Australasian Flyway, which is nearly threatened in
their major breeding ground in Japan. 2. We localised the fine-scale
movements of their display flights performed at high altitude and high
speed, using a 16-channel microphone array, and assessed the direction
from which each sound arrived using robot audition. 3. Preliminary
analyses of the azimuthal and elevation angles of the display flights
partially revealed a fine-scale flight trajectory, in which a male
Latham’s snipe gradually gained elevation while vocalising sharp and
harsh repeating calls until it reached the flight peak elevation and
then dove down to the ground with a winnowing along wetland zones
without tall vegetation. 4. Not only is this observation
methodologically useful for better understanding Latham’s snipe display
flight site selection, but can also be extended to investigate other
rare nocturnal or crepuscular birds, that are too timid to risk ringing
or tagging.