Medium. Relatively short bill, wedge-shaped tail. Sexes alike.
Adults: Crown, uniform dark grey, lacking the usual snipe mesial stripe. Eyebrow, white divivided by dark brown line and meets the top of bill. Lores, dark brown. Collar, mottled, brownish-chestnut. Eye, dark brown. Remaining upperparts, dark brown glossed with green and purple with large cinnnanmon buff margins to scapulars and wing coverts that form four large stripes down the back and wings. Tail, dark brown, lacking chestnut and white as in other snipe. Secondaries and inner primaries tipped white forming a white band on trailing edge of wing. Throat, white. Breast, flanks, mottled brown and white. Belly, white. Bill, dark brown with pinkish-brown or greenish-yellow base. Legs, greenish-yellow.
Other Names (World)
Jack Snipe, Half-snipe
Family
Scolopacidae (Sandpipers, Snipes, Phalaropes)
Afghanistan (NB), Albania (NB), Algeria, Armenia, Austria (NB), Azerbaijan (NB), Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus (B) (NB), Belgium (NB), Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria (NB), Chad, China (mainland), Congo [The Democratic Republic of the], Côte dIvoire, Croatia (Local Name: Hrvatska) (NB), Cyprus (NB), Czech Republic (NB), Denmark (NB) (P), Egypt, Eritrea (NB), Estonia (B) (NB), Ethiopia, Faroe Islands (NB), Finland (B) (NB) (P), France (NB) (P), Georgia, Germany (NB) (P), Ghana, Greece (NB) (P), Guinea-bissau, Hong Kong (China), Hungary (NB), India, Iran [Islamic Republic of], Iraq (NB), Ireland (NB), Israel, Italy (NB), Japan, Jordan (NB) (P), Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia (B) (NB), Liberia, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Lithuania (B) (NB), Luxembourg (NB), Macedonia [The Former Yugoslav Republic of] (NB), Mali, Malta (NB), Mauritania, Moldova [Republic of] (P), Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Myanmar, Nepal, Netherlands Antilles (NB), Nigeria, Norway (B), Oman, Pakistan, Philippines, Poland (B) (NB), Portugal (NB), Qatar, Romania (NB) (P), Russia (Asian) (B), Russia (Central Asian) (B), Russia (European) (B) (NB), Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Slovakia (Slovak Republic) (NB), Slovenia (NB), South Korea, Spain (NB) (P), Sri Lanka, Sudan, Sweden (B) (NB) (P), Switzerland (NB), Taiwan (China), Tajikistan, Tanzania [United Republic of], Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey (NB), Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine (NB), United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom (NB), Uzbekistan, Vietnam.
Vagrant to Barbados, Benin, Cameroon, Canada, Central African Republic, Gambia, Gibraltar, Iceland, Lebanon, Liechtenstein, Niger, Rwanda, Somalia, Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands, Syrian Arab Republic, Togo, USA, Yemen, Zambia.
Subarctic, boreal and sub-boreal zones from north-eastern Scandinavia to eastern Siberia; isolated populations in southern Sweden, northern Poland, northern Belarus and Baltic states. Winters from British Is south through western Europe and Mediterranean to northern Afrotropics, and east through Asia Minor, northern Middle East, Azerbaijan, Iran, Afghanistan and India to southern China and Vietnam.
Rarity Status
Currently this species is not classified as a rarity in this country OR information has not been updated.
Population
Estimated population is 1,000,000 (2010).
Jack Snipe (Lymnocryptes minimus) [XC475869]
by Stanislas Wroza from Slettnes wetland, Karls\u00f8y, Troms, Norway (flight call, song)
Jack Snipe (Lymnocryptes minimus) [XC644338]
by Lars Edenius from F\u00e5rsk\u00e4ret, Nordmaling Municipality, V\u00e4sterbottens l\u00e4n, Sweden (song)
Nest
A depression on the ground, near water, concealed by vegetation, lined with grass.
Eggs (Guide)
4; smooth, olive to dark brown with many darker spots and blotches; pyriform.
The Reader's Digest Book of British Birds 1980, 3rd Edition, Drive Publications Ltd ISBN 0 340 25308 8
Birds in Colour Campbell, B., 1960, Penguin Books Ltd
The Pocket Guide to Nest and Eggs Fitter, R.S.R., 1954, Collins
RSPB Handbook of British Birds Holden, P., Cleeves, T., 2002, A & C Black ISBN 0 7136 5713 8
Birds of Britain and Europe Sterry, P., et al., 2001, AA Publishing ISBN 0 7495 3068 5
The Popular Handbook of British Birds Hollom, P.A.D., 1973, H.F. & G. Witherby Ltd ISBN 0 85493 002 7
BirdLife International Species Factsheet