South American Snipe

South American Snipe
South American Snipe
Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Scolopacidae
Genus: Gallinago
Species: G. paraguaiae
Binomial name
Gallinago paraguaiae
Vieillot, 1816

The South American Snipe or Magellan Snipe, Gallinago paraguaiae, is a small, stocky wader. Its taxonomic position is complicated, sometimes treated as a race of Common Snipe. The Andean population is now usually considered a distinct species, known as the Puna Snipe.

This small snipe breeds in most of South America away from the Pacific coast and eastern Brazil, and also the Falkland Islands, Trinidad and possibly Tobago The nominate lowland race G. p. paraguaiae is resident, but southern G. p. magellanicae migrates north in winter, abandoning Tierra del Fuego altogether.

The breeding habitat is wet grassy savannah for the northern form, peat bogs for magellanicae, and boggy rivers for andina. The nest is a well-hidden depression on the ground. Both parents incubate the two buff eggs for about 19 days to hatching, the precocial young leaving the nest soon after hatching.

The adult South American Snipe is 27-29 cm in length and weighs 110 g. It has short greenish-grey legs and a very long straight dark bill. The body is mottled brown on top and pale underneath. There is a dark stripe through the eye, with light stripes above and below it. The wings are pointed. In northern South America, it is difficult to distinguish in the field from wintering Common Snipe, although they can be separated in the hand.

G. p. magellanicae, which breeds southwards from central Argentina and central Chile is longer-winged, warmer and more buff in colour than the northern race. South American Snipes forage in soft mud, probing or picking up food by sight. They mainly eat insects and earthworms, also plant material.

The male performs a "winnowing" display during courtship, flying high in circles and then taking shallow dives to produce a distinctive sound. The call is a rasping tssk.

References

  1. ^ BirdLife International (2004). Gallinago paraguaiae. 2006. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. www.iucnredlist.org. Retrieved on 11 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern


  • Birds of Venezuela by Hilty, ISBN 0-7136-6418-5
  • ffrench, Richard (1991). A Guide to the Birds of Trinidad and Tobago (2nd edition ed.). Comstock Publishing. ISBN 0-8014-9792-2. 
  • Shorebirds by Hayman, Marchant and Prater ISBN 978-0-395-60237-9

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно решить контрольную?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • South American snipe — Pietų Amerikos perkūno oželis statusas T sritis zoologija | vardynas atitikmenys: lot. Gallinago paraguaiae angl. South American snipe vok. Magellanbekassine, f pranc. bécassine de Magellan, f ryšiai: platesnis terminas – perkūno oželiai …   Paukščių pavadinimų žodynas

  • South American Painted Snipe — Conservation status Least Concern ( …   Wikipedia

  • South American painted snipe — spalvingieji tilvikai statusas T sritis zoologija | vardynas atitikmenys: lot. Nycticryphes angl. South American painted snipe vok. Weißflecken Goldschnepfe, f rus. южноамериканский цветной бекас, m pranc. rhynchée de Saint Hilaire, f ryšiai:… …   Paukščių pavadinimų žodynas

  • South American painted-snipe — spalvingasis tilvikas statusas T sritis zoologija | vardynas atitikmenys: lot. Nycticryphes semicollaris angl. South American painted snipe vok. Weißflecken Goldschnepfe, f rus. южноамериканский цветной бекас, m pranc. rhynchée de Saint Hilaire,… …   Paukščių pavadinimų žodynas

  • snipe — snipelike, adj. sniper, n. /snuyp/, n., pl. snipes, (esp. collectively) snipe for 1, 2; v. sniped, sniping. n. 1. any of several long billed game birds of the genera Gallinago (Capella) and Limnocryptes, inhabiting marshy areas, as G. gallinago… …   Universalium

  • American black bear — Temporal range: Late Pliocene Early Pleistocene to recent At Lake Louise, Alberta Conservation status …   Wikipedia

  • American bison — B. b. bison Alternate image Historic drawing …   Wikipedia

  • American alligator — An American Alligator in captivity at the Columbus Zoo, in Powell, Ohio Conservation status …   Wikipedia

  • American Woodcock — Taxobox name = American Woodcock image width = 240px image caption = Adult on nest status = LC status system = iucn3.1 regnum = Animalia phylum = Chordata classis = Aves subclassis = Neornithes infraclassis = Neognathae superordo = Neoaves ordo …   Wikipedia

  • Lesser Painted Snipe — Taxobox name = Lesser Painted Snipe status = LC | status system = IUCN3.1 image width = regnum = Animalia phylum = Chordata classis = Aves ordo = Charadriiformes familia = Rostratulidae genus = Nycticryphes genus authority = Wetmore Peters, 1923… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”