long shot: Common Snipe (?) in flight | Izumi Crane Center, Kyushu Japan | march 2020 (1 Viewer)

[HouseCrow]

Morning all,

While scanning the fields with scattered Hooded cranes feeding this snipe was probably flushed by a Hen Harrier. I managed to get some rubbish shots with the subject at least in it...

I know this is a difficult species group anywhere, not least in East Asia. The crop compilation is hardly worth looking at but maybe, maybe some of you can exclude some species at least?
I have tried to make something of it. I would think the white trailing edge is real (not only a photo effect) and ought to be fitting only for Common Snipe....but I suspect it is less easy than that.

record at inaturalist Typical Snipes (Genus Gallinago)
original photos at flickr: snipe at Izumi Crane Center

Any thought?

hope to hear from you
cheers,
G erben

View attachment snip-izumi.jpg

 

[Andy Hurley]

White belly, strong white trailing edge and long beak, with the double dark wing markings all look good for Common, but I don't know what your local snipes look like

 

[MacNara]

I would think the white trailing edge is real (not only a photo effect) and ought to be fitting only for Common Snipe....but I suspect it is less easy than that.

The white trailing edge is fit only for Common Snipe; with that white trailing edge that's the only possiblity in Japan - and they are overwhelmingly the most common snipe seen here. And to be a little blunt, even if you couldn't clearly see a white trailing edge on these photos (as possibly in photo 4 (top to bottom, left to right)) you still couldn't be sure that it wasn't Common because of the lighting and distance, i.e the quality of the photos; in my opinion anyway - no offence, well done for getting them anyway.

The other possible snipe in Japan would be Latham's which I arrives in April (and breeds in the north, especially Hokkaido), and Swinhoe's and Pintail (which are passage birds, breeding on the continent); in my opinion, none of these three could be told apart from each other in your photos even if you were sure that there was no white trailing edge (but since there is a clear trailing edge, this question doesn't arise).

Latham's can be found fairly easily on the breeding grounds, but Swinhoe's and Pintail are really difficult for us who live here to find (they are not breeding and so not calling and displaying like Latham's) and should only be around in April/May and late August to October. Some Swinhoe's and Pintail are said to overwinter in southern Kyushu, but if this is true, you would still have to be extraordinarily lucky to find one.

(There are also Solitary Snipe, Jack Snipe and Woodcock in Japan, which I assume you are not suggesting as possibilities.)

Common Snipe are here from mid-September to June, according to the books, and I have seen one in August near my house. They even like winter sports!

 

[HouseCrow]

I have been trying to understand the different species in JP for quite some time now (on and off) but with no personal record to be ID'd (and few records on inaturalist), the need was not there to actually take in the information.
Now I had an example - how ever badly grabbed it is- so there is the urge again.
Common Snipe is the only Common Snipe-type snipe I know. It is common in the Netherlands too, they are often seen (at a distance) and heard but apart from Great Snipe there is no competition.

I am glad the trailing edge seems to have clinched an ID for this one. I maybe have some other contender in my unchecked photoarchive.

thanks Andy and Jeff for the backup...and of course no offence taken... Many of these shots are rubbish, but sometimes you want to give them a good scrutiny anyway.

cheers,
G