Pin-tailed Snipe

Gallinago stenuraOrder: CHARADRIIFORMES Family: Sandpipers (Scolopacidae)

Codes: Common Name: PTSN Scientific Name: GALSTE ITIS Taxonomic No.: 176710

Breeding Location:

Wetlands

Breeding Type:

Solitary nester

Breeding Population:

Common in range

Egg Color:

Green yellow with brown splotches

Number of Eggs:

Incubation Days:

Egg Incubator:

Female

Nest Material:

Lined with grass or bits of vegetation.

Migration:

Migratory

General

Pin-tailed Snipe: Large, chunky, and cryptically colored shorebird. Upperparts complexly mottled with tan, brown, and black. Tail rufous. Bill very long. Sexes similar. Juvenile very similar to adult, but pale fringes on feathers are narrower.

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.

Breeding and 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.

Foraging and 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.

Vocalization

Pin-tailed Snipe: Call is a short high-pitched "scaap."

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.

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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

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.

● 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

Upperparts

Back, rump, hindneck, wings, and crown.

4 and 6 letter alpha codes

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.

Field Guide to Birds of North America

Pin-tailed Snipe

Breeding Location:

Breeding Type:

Breeding Population:

Egg Color:

Number of Eggs:

Incubation Days:

Egg Incubator:

Nest Material:

Migration:

Recommended Products:

General

Range and Habitat

Breeding and Nesting

Foraging and Feeding

Vocalization

Similar Species

Pin-tailed Snipe

Flight Pattern