Pin-tailed Snipe

Gallinago stenuraOrder: CHARADRIIFORMES Family: Sandpipers (Scolopacidae)

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

Head

Topo Map: Sandpiper-like Head

Bill Shape: Dagger
Eye Color: No data.
Head Pattern: Striped
Crown Color: Brown-black with buff center stripe.
Forehead Color: Brown and buff.
Nape Color: Brown-black and pale brown.
Throat Color: Buff with brown streaks.
Cere color: No Data

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Body

Topo Map: Sandpiper-like Body

Length Range: 25 cm (10 in)
Weight: 113 g (4 oz)
Size: Size 3. Medium (9 - 16 in)
Color: Tan, Brown, Black
Underparts: Buff breast with brown streaks and bars, bars on sides, and white belly.
Upperparts: Black and brown feathers with pale brown edges.
Back Pattern: Barred or banded, Scaled or Scalloped
Belly Pattern: Solid
Breast Pattern: Barred or banded

Flight

Topo Map: Sandpiper-like Flight

Flight Pattern: Zigzag flight on takeoff followed by direct flight with rapid wing beats.
Wingspan Range: 43-51 cm (17-20 in)
Wing Shape: Pointed-Wings
Tail Shape: Squared Tail
Tail Pattern: Banded
Upper Tail: Black with red-brown subterminal central band and white terminal band.
Under Tail: Pale Brown
Leg Color: Gray-green

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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

Sandpiper-like Head

Sandpiper-like Body

Sandpiper-like Flight

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

Head

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Body

Flight

Pin-tailed Snipe

Flight Pattern