An Australian Painted Snipe or two, Lifer 354

Due to some decent rainfall during mid to late 2023 reports started coming in of Painted Snipes from around Australia and in Victoria. While it was 2.5 hours away it was well worth the drive to Bells Swamp to try and find the lifer, a very rare and cryptic bird. It had been seen mostly in the afternoons so we timed our trip to increase our chances. We gave it until 3pm before we would head home to try and beat the heavy traffic around the outskirts of western Melbourne. At 2:50pm and about to give up, a pair of the rare birds popped out of the long grass in front of us and we were able to get a few decent shots and watch them for a while. Another successful twitch.