Solitary Snipe

Gallinago solitaria Hodgson, 1831

Solitary Snipe, Gallinago solitaria, is a bird of montane wetlands in the Palearctic, breeding from the Altai and Tien Shan through eastern Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, north-east China and Kamchatka. Outside the breeding season it occurs from eastern Kazakhstan to eastern Afghanistan, across the Himalayas and northern and south-east Asia, and also in western and south-east China, on the Korean Peninsula, in northern and central Japan, Sakhalin and the Amurland. It is a stocky wader with a heavy build, relatively short legs and a long, straight bill. Its plumage is streaked and patterned above, with a whitish face, ginger-brown breast and white underparts barred on the flanks.

Order

Charadriiformes

Family

Scolopacidae — Sandpipers, Snipes

Breeding range

Palearctic: montane wetlands of c, e Palearctic: Altai and Tien Shan mts. from sc Russia, ne Kazakhstan, nw Xinjiang and n Mongolia e to Kamchatka and ne China

Nonbreeding range

n OR : montane e Kazakhstan to e Afghanistan, Himalayas, n se Asia, wc, se China, Korean Pen., n, c Japan and Sakhalin and Amurland (se Russia)