Jewel Dirks

A snipe is a bird which has the wonderful ability to soar down through the sky, making the air “winnow” through his tail feathers, producing a wonderful hu-hu-hu-hu-hu.  He will make huge loops over and over, supposedly to impress the ladies.  I usually hear this in the quiet of the evening.  All these pieces are based on a recording I made of that sound.  You can hear the original recording by going to "Snipe Winnowing" in the album, "Original Recorded Sounds."  There are three examples provided there.

After she died, I wondered if my mom had ever heard a snipe winnow.  It’s possible, since she was raised on the Wyoming prairies.  I wondered if she would have dreamt of how it would be to winnow as she looped her plane.  

This is the last photo I have of her flying.

More about each piece and how I wrote them can be accessed by clicking here.