Great snipes perform remarkable lekking displays in Scandinavian bogs and undertake non-stop trans-Saharan migrations, facing welfare threats from hunting and habitat loss.
Great snipes undertaking non-stop trans-Saharan migrations face extreme physiological challenge: birds lose up to 50% of their body mass during the flight. Birds without adequate fattening sites cannot accumulate sufficient reserves for successful migration. Hunting on migration routes causes direct welfare impacts through injury and death. Lek disturbance at traditional display sites disrupts the social behaviour central to great snipe reproduction. Habitat degradation of breeding bogs forces birds into suboptimal display and nesting sites.