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Common Snipe, Enkelbeckasin, Gallinago gallinago, นกปากซ่อมหางพัด

The Common Snipe (Gallinago gallinago), called Enkelbeckasin in Skåne, is a small, stocky wader native to the Old World. The scientific name gallinago is New Latin for a woodcock or snipe from Latin gallina, "hen" and the suffix -ago, "resembling".

The breeding habitat is marshes, bogs, tundra and wet meadows throughout northern Europe and northern Asia. It is migratory, with European birds wintering in southern and western Europe and Africa (south to the Equator), and Asian migrants moving to tropical southern Asia. The North American Wilson's snipe was previously considered the same species, and is listed as such in older field guides.

Common Snipe, Enkelbeckasin, Gallinago gallinago, นกปากซ่อมหางพัด

Ornithological Portal Oiseaux.net
Range map from www.oiseaux.net - Ornithological Portal Oiseaux.net
www.oiseaux.net is one of those MUST visit pages if you're in to bird watching. You can find just about everything there


Description
Adults are 25–27 cm in length with a 44–47 cm wingspan and a weight of 80–140 g (up to 180 g) pre-migration). They have short greenish-grey legs and a very long (5.5–7 cm) straight dark bill.

The body is mottled brown with straw-yellow stripes on top and pale underneath. They have a dark stripe through the eye, with light stripes above and below it. The wings are pointed.

Length: 25-27 cm
Wingspan: 44-47 cm
Weight: 80-140 g
Longevity: 12 Years
Distinctive Feature
• Short legs (For a wader) and a long bill
Similar Species


From www.birdforum.net


It is the most widespread of several similar snipes. It most closely resembles the Wilson's snipe (G. delicata) of North America, which was until recently considered to be a subspecies — G. g. delicata — of common snipe.

They differ in the number of tail feathers, with seven pairs in G. gallinago and eight pairs in G. delicata; the North American species also has a slightly thinner white trailing edge to the wings (the white is mostly on the tips of the secondaries).

Both species breed in the Aleutian Islands. It is also very similar to the pin-tailed snipe (G. stenura) and Swinhoe's snipe (G. megala) of eastern Asia; identification of these species there is complex.

There are two subspecies of common snipe, G. g. faeroeensis in Iceland, the Faroes, Shetland and Orkney (wintering in Britain and Ireland), and G. g. gallinago in the rest of the Old World. The faeroeensis normally is more richly toned on the breast, its upperparts and the head than the gallinago.

Listen to the Common Snipe

Remarks from the Recordist

this morning the Snipes (at least 5 along this way) were very active. Very warm after rainy days


www.xeno-canto.org

Ecology
It is a well camouflaged bird, it is usually shy and conceals itself close to ground vegetation and flushes only when approached closely. When flushed, they utter a sharp note that sounds like scape, scape and fly off in a series of aerial zig-zags to confuse predators.

Common Snipe, Enkelbeckasin, Gallinago gallinago, นกปากซ่อมหางพัด
Common Snipe foragen
Cyprus - March 2021

Common Snipe, Enkelbeckasin, Gallinago gallinago, นกปากซ่อมหางพัด
Common Snipe foragen
Cyprus - March 2021

They forage in soft mud, probing or picking up food by sight. They mainly eat insects and earthworms, also some plant material.

The male performs "winnowing" display during courtship, flying high in circles and then taking shallow dives to produce a "drumming" sound by vibrating its tail feathers. This sound has been compared by others to the bleating of a sheep or goat; hence in many languages the snipe is known by names signifying “flying goat,” “heaven's ram,” as in Scotland by “heather-bleater” and in Finnish the name taivaanvuohi, "sky goat".

Listen to the Common Snipe

www.xeno-canto.org



Philip Manson-Bahr is credited with unravelling the mystery of how the snipe creates that unusual breathy sound which is unlike other birdsong. He worked out that the sound was created by placing out two tail feathers at 90 degrees to the direction of flight.

When diving these feathers create this unusual sound. He demonstrated this in front of the British Ornithologists Union by inserting two snipe feathers into a cork which he then whirled around his head on a string.

Common Snipe, Enkelbeckasin, Gallinago gallinago, นกปากซ่อมหางพัด
Gallinago gallinago – MHNT
By Didier Descouens - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=20342503


Common snipe nest in a well-hidden location on the ground, laying four eggs of a dark olive colour, blotched and spotted with rich brown, which are incubated by the female for 18–21 days. The freshly hatched young are covered in dark maroon down, variegated with black, white and buff.

The young are cared for by both parents, each parent looking after half the brood, with fledging in 10–20 days.

Conservation
Overall, the species is not threatened. Populations on the southern fringes of the breeding range in Europe are however declining with local extinction in some areas (notably in parts of England and Germany), mainly due to field drainage and agricultural intensification.

The Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies to the species. It is still hunted as a gameBird in much of its range.

History
Old folk names include "mire snipe", "horse gowk", "heather bleat", and the variant spelling "snite". See snipe for other aspects of the name.

Conservation status
Common Snipe, Enkelbeckasin, Gallinago gallinago, นกปากซ่อมหางพัด
2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2.
International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 26 November 2013.



From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

www.birdforum.net


Sighted: (Date of first photo that I could use) 16 March 2021
Location: eBird hotspot: Akrotiri Marsh, Cyprus

Common Snipe, Enkelbeckasin, Gallinago gallinago, นกปากซ่อมหางพัด
Common Snipe - 16 March 2021 - eBird hotspot: Akrotiri Marsh, Cyprus




PLEASE! If I have made any mistakes identifying any bird, PLEASE let me know on my guestbook



       
                  



                                       
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