Common Snipe

Photo by IanF
Dormans Pool, Billingham, UK

Gallinago gallinago

Identification

Brown back with creamy stripes. Striped head with cream central stripe. White belly, barred flanks. Long bill.

Distribution

Breeds in northern Palearctic; winters in southern Europe, Africa, and Asia.

Taxonomy

Formerly contained Wilson's Snipe (delicata), now recognized as a full species.

Subspecies¹

• G. g. faeroeensis - breeds in Iceland, Faeroe Islands, Orkney Islands and Shetland Islands; winters to British Isles
• G. g. gallinago - protected by AEWA²; breeds in N Palearctic and Aleutian Islands; winters to Africa, India, Indonesia

Habitat

The breeding habitat is marshes, bogs, tundra and wet meadows in Iceland, the Faroes, northern Europe and Russia. Common Snipe nest in a well-hidden location on the ground.

Behaviour

This well camouflaged bird is usually shy and conceals itself close to ground vegetation and flushes only when approached closely. They fly off in a series of aerial zig-zags to confuse predators. Snipe hunters, therefore, needed to be very skilled to hunt these birds and they came to be called snipers - a term later adopted by the military.

The song has been described as "Chipper Chipper."

Vocalisation

<flashmp3>Gallinago gallinago (song).mp3</flashmp3>
Listen in an external program

Reference

1. Clements, James F. 2007. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to October 2007. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. ISBN 9780801445019
2. Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds.

External Links

• A thread describing the differences between this species and Wilson's Snipe is found [here]

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