Solitary Snipe
Encyclopedia
The Solitary Snipe, Gallinago solitaria, is a small stocky wader
. It breeds discontinuously in the mountains of eastern Asia
, in eastern Russia
, Kazakhstan
Kyrgyzstan
and Mongolia
. Many birds are sedentary in the high mountains, or just move downhill in hard weather, but others are migratory
, wintering in northeast Iran
, Pakistan
, northern India
and Japan
. It is a vagrant to Saudi Arabia
, eastern India and Hong Kong
.
29–31 cm long with a stocky body and relatively short legs for a wader. Its upperparts, head and neck are streaked and patterned with medium brown stripes and whitish edges to the feathers forming lines down its back. The face is whitish. The breast is ginger-brown and the belly is white with brown barring on the flanks. The brown and black bill is long, straight and fairly slender. The legs and feet are yellowish-olive to yellowish-brown. All plumages are similar, but females average larger.
There are two quite similar subspecies. Nominate G. s. solitaria is very widespread. The breeding range of G. s. japonica, which is richer red and less white above, is unknown, but it winters in Japan.
The Solitary Snipe makes a hoarse kensh call as it takes off, and has a far carrying chok-a-chok-a call when displayinging.
The Solitary Snipe can be distinguished from other snipe by its ginger breast, whitish face and white lines on its back. It has a relatively slow, heavy flight.
This snipe breeds in mountain bogs and river valleys above the timberline,typically from 2,400 m to 5000 m. It is often found in similar marshes and swamps at lower altitudes when not breeding or on migration.
The Solitary Snipe builds a saucer-shaped nest of dry grass in the drier areas of its breeding wetland. The nest is concealed in a dense tuft of grass or sedges.
This bird has an aerial display, which involves flying high in circles, followed by a powerful stoop during which the bird makes a "drumming
" sound, caused by vibrations of modified outer tail feathers.
The Solitary Snipe forages by pushing its long bill deep into the mud seeking invertebrates, such as insect
s and worms, seeds and plants. It is quite approachable, but if alarmed, it crouches, and its cryptic plumage provides effective camouflage when the bird stands motionless amongst marsh vegetation. When flushed, it drops back into the marsh after a short slow flight.
Wader
Waders, called shorebirds in North America , are members of the order Charadriiformes, excluding the more marine web-footed seabird groups. The latter are the skuas , gulls , terns , skimmers , and auks...
. It breeds discontinuously in the mountains of eastern Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
, in eastern Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...
Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan , officially the Kyrgyz Republic is one of the world's six independent Turkic states . Located in Central Asia, landlocked and mountainous, Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the southwest and China to the east...
and Mongolia
Mongolia
Mongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest...
. Many birds are sedentary in the high mountains, or just move downhill in hard weather, but others are migratory
Bird migration
Bird migration is the regular seasonal journey undertaken by many species of birds. Bird movements include those made in response to changes in food availability, habitat or weather. Sometimes, journeys are not termed "true migration" because they are irregular or in only one direction...
, wintering in northeast Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
, Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
, northern India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. It is a vagrant to Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
, eastern India and Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
.
Description
This is a large and heavy snipeSnipe
A snipe is any of about 25 wading bird species in three genera in the family Scolopacidae. They are characterized by a very long, slender bill and crypsis plumage. The Gallinago snipes have a nearly worldwide distribution, the Lymnocryptes Jack Snipe is restricted to Asia and Europe and the...
29–31 cm long with a stocky body and relatively short legs for a wader. Its upperparts, head and neck are streaked and patterned with medium brown stripes and whitish edges to the feathers forming lines down its back. The face is whitish. The breast is ginger-brown and the belly is white with brown barring on the flanks. The brown and black bill is long, straight and fairly slender. The legs and feet are yellowish-olive to yellowish-brown. All plumages are similar, but females average larger.
There are two quite similar subspecies. Nominate G. s. solitaria is very widespread. The breeding range of G. s. japonica, which is richer red and less white above, is unknown, but it winters in Japan.
The Solitary Snipe makes a hoarse kensh call as it takes off, and has a far carrying chok-a-chok-a call when displayinging.
The Solitary Snipe can be distinguished from other snipe by its ginger breast, whitish face and white lines on its back. It has a relatively slow, heavy flight.
Behaviour
This snipe breeds in mountain bogs and river valleys above the timberline,typically from 2,400 m to 5000 m. It is often found in similar marshes and swamps at lower altitudes when not breeding or on migration.
The Solitary Snipe builds a saucer-shaped nest of dry grass in the drier areas of its breeding wetland. The nest is concealed in a dense tuft of grass or sedges.
This bird has an aerial display, which involves flying high in circles, followed by a powerful stoop during which the bird makes a "drumming
Drumming (snipe)
Drumming is a sound produced by snipe as part of their courtship display flights. The sound is produced mechanically by the vibration of the modified outer tail feathers, held out at a wide angle to the body, in the slipstream of a power dive. The display is usually crepuscular, or given...
" sound, caused by vibrations of modified outer tail feathers.
The Solitary Snipe forages by pushing its long bill deep into the mud seeking invertebrates, such as insect
Insect
Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...
s and worms, seeds and plants. It is quite approachable, but if alarmed, it crouches, and its cryptic plumage provides effective camouflage when the bird stands motionless amongst marsh vegetation. When flushed, it drops back into the marsh after a short slow flight.