Common Snipe

Gallinago gallinago (Linnaeus, 1758)

Common Snipe, Gallinago gallinago, breeds across the Palearctic in marshes, bogs, tundra and wet meadows, and spends the non-breeding season in southern Europe, Africa and much of temperate to tropical Asia. It is a shy, well-hidden wader that keeps close to ground cover and is often hard to see. Its bill is very long and straight, and the plumage is mottled brown with straw-yellow markings above and paler below, with a dark line through the eye and pale stripes around it. Males make a courtship display in the air, circling and then diving to create a drumming sound.

Order

Charadriiformes

Family

Scolopacidae — Sandpipers, Snipes

Breeding range

Palearctic: widespread low Arctic to temperate wetlands of Palearctic: Iceland to British Isles, Scandinavia, France and Azores (n Macaronesia, nw of n Africa) e through n Russia to c Chukotskiy Pen., Kamchatka, Sea of Okhotsk and Commander Is. (se Russia); in s to n Kazakhstan, e Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Afghanistan, Kashmir (nw Himalayas), n Mongolia and ne China

Nonbreeding range

s Europe, AF, OR : temperate to tropical wetlands of Eastern Hemisphere mainly n of Equator: British Isles to s Europe, Macaronesia (nw of n Africa), n Africa, wc to ec Africa, Middle East, c, s se Asia, e Asia, Greater Sundas, Philippines, Taiwan, e China, Korean Pen. and c, s Japan