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Pin-tailed Snipe

Gallinago stenuraOrder: CHARADRIIFORMES Family: Sandpipers (Scolopacidae)
Codes: Common Name: PTSN Scientific Name: GALSTE ITIS Taxonomic No.: 176710
Least Concern
 
Pin-tailed Snipe
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Overview

Pin-tailed Snipe: Large, chunky, cryptically colored shorebird. Upperparts complexly mottled tan, brown, and black. Tail rufous. Long gray-green bill, dark brown tip. Legs, feet are gray-green. Feeds on insects, larvae, worms, seeds. Flushes in a zigzag pattern. Direct flight with rapid wing beats.

Range and Habitat

Pin-tailed Snipe: Twice found on Attu in the western Aleutian Islands. Favors marshy bogs and wet grasslands, or on muddy shorelines.

Topo Map: Sandpiper-like Body


Voice Text

"scaap"

Interesting Facts

 Male Pintail Snipes often display in a group, with a loud repetitive song and whistling noises produced in flight by the pin-like outer tail feathers which give this species its English name.

 Common name variations include Pin-tail, Pintail Snipe, and the Asiatic Snipe.

 This bird was first described in 1831 by Charles Lucien Bonaparte, French naturalist and ornithologist, and nephew of the Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte.

 A group of snipes has many collective nouns, including a "leash", "walk", "whisper", "winnowing", and "volley" of snipes.


Bird Term Glossary



Author

David Lukas

Artist

David Wenzel

Splitbar
Range Map for Pin-tailed Snipe

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Family Sandpiper (Scolopacidae)_blue
Species Gallinago stenura
Length10 Inches
Wingspan18.5 Inches

Pin-tailed Snipe

Pin-tailed Snipe: Large, chunky, cryptically colored shorebird. Upperparts complexly mottled tan, brown, and black. Tail rufous. Long gray-green bill, dark brown tip. Legs, feet are gray-green. Feeds on insects, larvae, worms, seeds. Flushes in a zigzag pattern. Direct flight with rapid wing beats.

● Song: "scaap"

● Foraging & Feeding: Pin-tailed Snipe: Probes in soft mud or ground with very long bill in wet meadows and shorelines. Eats mollusks, earthworms, and insect larvae.

● Breeding & nesting: Pin-tailed Snipe: Four green yellow eggs with brown splotches are laid in a shallow depression on the ground well concealed by vegetation. Eggs incubated 20 days, presumably by female alone. Chicks independent in two months.

● Similar species: Pin-tailed Snipe: Common and Wilson's snipes have longer tails that can be seen on perched birds. In flight their longer tail mostly hides their feet. Perched birds don't show the strongly barred secondary coverts of the Pin-tailed Snipe.

Flight Pattern

Zigzag flight on takeoff followed by direct flight with rapid wing beats.
Pin-tailed Snipe Body Illustration
● Range & Habitat: Pin-tailed Snipe: Twice found on Attu in the western Aleutian Islands. Favors marshy bogs and wet grasslands, or on muddy shorelines.
BreedingSolitary nester
PopulationCommon in range
MigrationMigratory
Weight4 Ounces
Sandpiper-like BodyX
UpperpartsX
Back, rump, hindneck, wings, and crown.
Outer tail feathersX
The tail feathers farthest from the center.
4 and 6 letter alpha codesX

The four letter common name alpha code is is derived from the first two letters of the common first name and the first two letters of common last name. The six letter species name alpha code is derived from the first three letters of the scientific name (genus) and the first three letters of the scientific name (species). See (1) below for the rules used to create the codes..

Four-letter (for English common names) and six-letter (for scientific names) species alpha codes were developed by Pyle and DeSante (2003, North American Bird-Bander 28:64-79) to reflect A.O.U. taxonomy and nomenclature (A.O.U. 1998) as modified by Supplements 42 (Auk 117:847-858, 2000) and 43 (Auk 119:897-906, 2002). The list has been updated by Pyle and DeSante to reflect changes reported by the A.O.U from 2003 through 2006.

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ITIS CodesX

The Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) was established in the mid-1990�s as a cooperative project among several federal agencies to improve and expand upon taxonomic data (known as the NODC Taxonomic Code) maintained by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

To find the ITIS page for a bird species go to the ITIS web site advanced search and report page at http://www.itis.gov/advanced_search.html. You can enter the TSN or the common name of the bird. It will return the ITIS page for that bird. Another way to obtain the ITIS page is to use the Google search engine. Enter the string ITIS followed by the taxonomic ID, for example "ITIS 178041" will return the page for the Allen's Hummingbird.

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Parts of a Standing birdX
Head Feathers and MarkingsX
Parts of a Flying birdX