Overview
Jack Snipe: Medium, stocky sandpiper, mottled brown upperparts, paler underparts. Eyestripe is dark. Yellow stripes on back are visible in flight. Eats mollusks, insects, larvae, worms and seeds. Weak flight with rapid, shallow wing beats.
Range and Habitat
Jack Snipe: Prefers marshes, bogs, tundra and wet meadows in northern Europe and northern Russia. Spends winters in Great Britain, Atlantic and Mediterranean coastal Europe, Africa, and India. Breeds in northern taiga - wet, open areas with birch and willow forests. Winters on shallow, wet, and muddy areas with plenty of vegetation; prefers fens, marshes, flood meadows, wet ditches, riverbanks, and sewage farms. Has occurred as an accidental spring migrant in the Pribilofs and in the late fall in California and Labrador.
Topo Map:
Sandpiper-like Body
Listen to Call
Voice Text
"ogogogoIK-ogogIK"
Interesting Facts
The Jack Snipe is the world's smallest snipe.
The male performs an aerial display during courtship, and has a sound like a galloping horse.
When feeding along the ground, this bird has a distinctive bobbing or bouncing style of motion, as if the bird is on springs.
A group of snipes has many collective nouns, including a "leash", "walk", "whisper", "winnowing", and "volley" of snipes.
Bird Term Glossary
Author
Gary Owen Dick
Artist
Imran Kahn
.