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Common Snipe
Gallinago gallinago
Audubon Illustration
John James Audubon, Birds of America (1827-1838). Public domain.
Migration Flyway
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Last Spotted Near You
About the Common Snipe
The common snipe (Gallinago gallinago, formerly also known as Gallinago cælestis) is a small, stocky wader native to the Old World, where it breeds in marshes, bogs, tundra and wet meadows. It is usually shy and well-camouflaged, foraging in soft mud mainly for insects and earthworms but also some plant material. During courtship, males perform a "winnowing" display; flying high in circles and then taking shallow dives to produce a "drumming" sound by vibrating the tail feathers.
Source: Wikipedia
Classification
- Scientific name
- Gallinago gallinago
- Family
- Sandpipers and Allies
- Order
- Charadriiformes
Similar species
Other members of the sandpipers and allies family recorded in North America — a useful place to start if you are not certain of your identification.
- American Woodcock Scolopax minor
- Baird's Sandpiper Calidris bairdii
- Bar-tailed Godwit Limosa lapponica
- Black Turnstone Arenaria melanocephala
- Black-tailed Godwit Limosa limosa
- Bristle-thighed Curlew Numenius tahitiensis
- Broad-billed Sandpiper Calidris falcinellus
- Buff-breasted Sandpiper Calidris subruficollis
- Common Greenshank Tringa nebularia
- Common Redshank Tringa totanus
- Common Sandpiper Actitis hypoleucos
- Curlew Sandpiper Calidris ferruginea
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Optics
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