Adults: Crown, dark brown with buffy white mesial stripe and eyebrow forming a distinctive pattern. Lores, brown bordered by a buff white stripe above and below. Mantle, back, wings, mottled dark brown and buffy with buffy edges to feathers forming stripes down the back. Eye, dark brown. Throat, white. Breast, undertail coverts, mottled dark brown and buff. Belly, white, with barred flanks. Tail, rufous subterminal band, white tip, that projects beyond wing tips when standing. Has 20 or more tail feathers and in folded wing longest primary extends beyond longest tertial and ends well short of end of uppertail coverts. Bill, black at tip and upper cutting edge, reddish-brown to pink at base and middle. Legs, grey.
Other Names (World)
Swinhoe's Snipe, Chinese Snipe, Forest Snipe, Marsh Snipe
Family
Scolopacidae (Sandpipers, Snipes, Phalaropes)
Australia, Brunei Darussalam, China (mainland), Guam (NB), Hong Kong (China), India, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan (B), Malaysia, Micronesia [Federated States of] (NB), Mongolia (B), Myanmar, North Korea, Northern Mariana Islands (NB), Palau (NB), Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Russia (Asian), Russia (Central Asian) (B), Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan (China), Thailand, Timor-Leste (NB) (P).
Vagrant to Israel, Maldives, Nepal.
Central-southern Siberia and northern Mongolia; Amurland and Ussuriland. Winters from southern and eastern India to eastern and southern China and Taiwan, and south through Malay Peninsula, Philippines and Indonesia to New Guinea and northern Australia.
Swinhoe's Snipe (Gallinago megala) [XC833993]
by Patrick Franke from Lamaiin Hiid, Saikhan-Ovoo, Dundgovi, Mongolia (flight call)
Swinhoe's Snipe (Gallinago megala) [XC484338]
by Sebastian Andrejeff from Selenga river delta, Buryatiya Republits, Russian Federation (song)
Breeding Season (Guide)
Does not breed in Australia. Breeds June in Eurasia.
J
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O
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Nest
A simple scrape, lined with grass, placed on dry ground, with a slight elevation, or on mounds, in swamps, bogs, amongst bushes or in the open in forest meadows.
Eggs (Guide)
Usually 4; cream or pale ochre, spotted red-brown or grey; oval to pyriform; about 41 x 29 mm. Incubation: about 20 days.
Young
Fledge in about 20 days.
Subspecies
Genus formerly named Capella, as this name erroneously considered to pre-date Gallinago.
No subspecies.
Similar Species
Latham's Snipe (Gallinago hardwickii)
Larger. Very difficult to distinguish in the field. In hand, 18 or fewer tail feathers. In folded wing longest tertial is longer than longest primary and both finish well before the end of the uppertail coverts finish.
Pin-tailed Snipe (Gallinago stenura)
Similar size. Very difficult to distinguish in the field. In hand, 24 - 28 tail feathers. In folded wing longest tertial is slightly longer than longest primary and ends about where the uppertail coverts finish. Bill, shorter and more slender and without a bulbous tip. Has buff not white trailing edge to wing.
The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Pizzey, G., and Knight, E., 1997, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 19691 5
Field Guide to Australian Birds Morecombe, M., 2000, Steve Parish Publishing Pty Ltd. ISBN 1 876282 10 X
Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Simpson, K., and Day, N., 1999, 6th Edition, Viking ISBN 0 670 87918 5
Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds 1988, 2nd Edition, Reader's Digest ISBN 0 949819 99 9
What Bird is That? 1984, Revised Edition, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 14846 5
Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds 1990 - , Oxford University Press, Melbourne ISBN 0 19 553244 9
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BirdLife International Species Factsheet