Overview
No one knew there was such a bird as a Campbell Island snipe before November 1997. For about 170 years they had been confined to a tiny, sheer-sided rock stack (20 ha Jacquemart Island) off the south coast of subantarctic Campbell Island. They were discovered by chance when Dave Barker, Jeremy Carroll and James Fraser landed by helicopter on Jacquemart Island on 9 Nov 1997. The men were searching for Campbell Island teal, a small flightless duck that, at the time, was confined to nearby Dent Island plus a captive population. To aid their search, Dave and James had three trained bird-locater dogs with them, and it was the dogs that found the snipe, resulting in the capture of one bird.
Both Campbell Island teal and snipe became confined to outlying rock stacks after Norway rats colonised the main Campbell Island (11,268 ha), probably following a shipwreck in 1828. The first naturalists did not visit Cambell Island until 1840. They commented on the lack of landbirds there, not realising that rats had already colonised the island.
Rats were eradicated from Campbell Island by the New Zealand Department of Conservation in 2001. Snipe began to recolonise Campbell Island by 2003, when footprints were found, and a large chick was caught by Dave Barker and Hannah Edmonds in March 2005.
A survey of the Six Foot Lake catchment on the south coast of Campbell Island by Colin Miskelly, James Fraser and Percy the dog in January located about 20 adult snipe, 3 broods of chicks and one nest. Blood samples taken from 12 adults and 3 chicks were used for genetic comparisons with surviving snipe populations on the Chatham Islands, Snares Islands, Auckland Islands and Antipodes Island. As a result, Allan Baker, Colin Miskelly & Oliver Haddrath recommended that the Campbell Island snipe be recognised as a subspecies of the subantarctic snipe (Coenocorypha aucklandica), which also has subspecies on the Auckland and Antipodes Islands.
One of the birds caught in January 2006 was injured during capture, and was retained as a specimen in the Te Papa collection. This is the only specimen of Campbell Island snipe in a museum collection anywhere in the world, and became the holotype of the subspecies Coenocorypha aucklandica perseverance when it was named by Colin Miskelly and Allan Baker four years later.
References
Baker, A.J.; Miskelly, C.M.; Haddrath, O. 2010. Species limits and population differentiation in
Barker, D.; Carroll, J.;
Miskelly, C.M. 2000. Historical records of snipe from
Miskelly, C. 2006. Bird in the hand; snipe-hunting on subantarctic
Miskelly, C.M.; Baker, A.J. 2009. Description of a new subspecies of Coenocorypha snipe from subantarctic
Miskelly, C.M.; Fraser, J.R. 2006.