Common snipe

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Common snipe
Common Common Snipe (Gallinago gallinago) calls a Common Common Snipe in Hampshire, England? / I

Common Common Snipe ( Gallinago gallinago ) calls a Common Common Snipe in Hampshire, England ? / i
Audio file / audio sample

Systematics
Class : Birds (aves)
Order : Plover-like (Charadriiformes)
Family : Snipe birds (Scolopacidae)
Genre : Common Common Snipe ( Gallinago )
Type : Common snipe
Scientific name
Gallinago gallinago
( Linnaeus , 1758)
Common snipe on a mud surface
Common snipe camouflaged in thick vegetation
Common Snipe with a watchful look upwards

The common snipe ( Gallinago gallinago ) is a very long-billed, medium-sized species from the family of snipe birds . It is distributed over large parts of the Palearctic and overwinters predominantly in the subtropics and tropics of the Old World . During the breeding season it inhabits moors , wet grassland and meadows ; at migration time, like most waders, it can be found on muddy surfaces on inland waterways and coasts . Characteristic is the courtship flight, in which the bird drops vertically from a great height and creates a "thumping" sound with spread out outer control feathers.

Worldwide, this breeding bird is not threatened in its population, but in Europe there have been severe population losses due to habitat loss since the second half of the 20th century. The common snipe was bird of the year 2013.

In the past, the North American snipe ( Gallinago delicata ) was considered a subspecies of the common snipe.

description

The snipe is about the size of a thrush with a body length between 25 and 27 cm, of which 55-75 mm are accounted for by the rather long beak . The wing length is 123-144 mm. The plumage has a brownish camouflage color with distinctive vertical stripes on the head and trunk. In contrast to some other species of the genus, the belly is broadly white. The 49–64 mm long tail protrudes relatively far beyond the wing tips of the sitting bird. The relatively short and strong legs are yellowish green to gray-green. The beak shows a reddish brown color at the base and a dark brown color at the tip. It is about twice as long as the head from the base of the beak to the back of the head. The iris is brown. The sexes do not differ.

The head of adult birds shows the typical stripe pattern of the species: a yellowish beige central stripe stands out from the dark brown apex. The stripe above the eyes is also yellowish beige and the dark dotted lines of the ear covers condense at the top and bottom. In contrast to the similar pike cassin , the dark rein becomes wider towards the base of the beak, the light above the eye stripe is narrower there than the latter. The throat is whitish, the throat and chest are yellowish-brown. Towards the sides of the chest and flanks, the dotted lines become coarser and V-shaped, so that conspicuous zigzag patterns sometimes form on a light rust-colored background. This pattern continues irregularly on the under tail-coverts. The back of the chest and abdomen are pure white. The shoulder feathers are black-brown with a green metallic sheen and variable red-brown spotted, dashed or scribbled on the centers. With their wide, yellowish beige to light brown border on the outer flag, the outer ones form light stripes on the otherwise dark back. The dull brown back feathers are white at the tips, those on the rear back are lined with reddish to yellowish brown. The light brown upper tail-coverts are - partly like arrowheads - darkly banded, the longest lined with whitish. The middle control feathers are black-brown on the basal part and red-brown on the visible, distal quarter with diffuse, dark markings, a dark subterminal band and a light lace border. On the outside, the red-brown part is more extensive, grayer and clearly banded. The number of control springs is usually 14, less often 12, 16 or 18. The upper wing coverts are predominantly dark brown, light brown and beige patterned and lined. The fine white tips of the large arm covers and the large inner hand covers form an indistinct wing stripe. The wings are dark brown, with the whitish tips of the arm wings and the inner hand wings forming an extended, white trailing edge.

The common snipe is similar to the double snipe , but is slightly smaller than this and is characterized by arm wings with a white end band that are visible in flight. The white belly spot is somewhat more extensive in the common snipe and its flanks are also banded light yellow-brown and dark brown.

Young birds can hardly be distinguished from adult birds. The cream-colored stripes on their backs are a bit narrower and paler. The new wing covers have completely white pointy spots, which are not interrupted by a black longitudinal band as in adult snipes.

The flight of the common snipe is very quick. Frightened and threatened birds show a flight with zigzag turns. On the ground, snipes buckle in the intertarsal joints in case of danger and press against the ground. In the vicinity of the nesting site or of young birds, they seduce by opening and closing and at the same time spreading their tails.

Surname

The German name Bekassine is derived from the French word bécasse for woodcock or woodcock and therefore means "small woodcock".

Vocalizations

Courtship flight of a snipe

Snipe, roused from the ground, gives off a hoarse, rough awe , which is sometimes lined up at short intervals.

The singing can be heard especially during the breeding season. It is performed by both sexes from a control room or in flight. It consists of long, rhythmic series of calls of two-syllable, quite variable sounds, which can be played as tick-er or diep-pe . The bird often waves its tail rhythmically. With particular excitement, the series can increase and then consist of monosyllabic djugg calls, of which about four follow each other every second.

Sounds of the courtship flight

The so-called “thumping” or “moaning”, which can be heard during courtship flights, especially at dawn and dusk, is very characteristic. This is an instrumental sound that is generated by the specially stiffened, external control springs. The courting male, and more rarely the female, can be dropped from an altitude of around 50 m at an angle of 45–90 °, whereby the spreading outer control feathers vibrate in the air stream and make a humming noise. The tremolo is created by the fact that the air flow is interrupted at rapid intervals by the wings, which are also spread apart. Since the bird gets faster as it glides down, the volume also increases a little.

distribution

Distribution of the common snipe:
  • Breeding areas
  • Year-round occurrence
  • Wintering areas

    • The transpalearctic range of the common snipe extends over large parts of temperate Eurasia . In the north, the limit of distribution extends from Iceland over the north of the British Isles and northern Fennoscandia , where it runs at around 70 ° N, as well as through European Russia and Siberia . Here it is mostly on the northern edge of the taiga zone at 71 ° N, but reaches 74 ° N on the east coast of the Taimyr Peninsula . In the east, it spreads to the Anadyr , Kamchatka , the Bering Island and the Kuriles . In Europe, the southern border of the area runs through northern Portugal, central France, northern Italy, Bulgaria and the Ukraine , with the occurrences in the west only being very scattered. In Asia, the distribution extends south to northern Turkestan , locally to Afghanistan and India , through the Altai and further to Manchuria and Ussuri .

    Duration

    The snipe is classified by the IUCN as not threatened ("least concern"). The total European population is estimated at 930,000 to 1,900,000 breeding pairs. The snipe reaches high population densities in Europe in Russia , the Baltic States , Scandinavia and eastern Central Europe . There are also larger stocks on the British Isles and in the North Sea area . In Western Europe and in the Mediterranean the Snipe occurs absent-minded. The Central European breeding population is estimated at 24,000 to 45,000 breeding pairs at the beginning of the 21st century.

    In Germany the snipe is threatened with extinction according to the red list and is therefore on the red list of Germany's breeding birds . In the middle of the 19th century the common snipe was still called "common" (= frequent) and hunted extremely intensively. Hunting routes sometimes comprised 70 to 80 specimens shot per day per hunter. The population is estimated at 6200 to 9800 breeding pairs at the beginning of the 21st century. The species has been under strict protection since 1980, so that hunting, destroying an egg or offering to sell a preparation is a criminal offense even if the species has not been recognized negligently.

    There are between 80 and 120 breeding pairs in Austria. In Switzerland, on the other hand, the snipe is a very rare breeding bird with a maximum of three breeding pairs.

    The causes of today's massive population decline are not due to hunting, but to drainage and soil leveling measures in the context of intensive agriculture and the increasing urban sprawl of the breeding areas. Due to the drainage, the water levels drop too early in the year and the soil no longer offers enough food. In addition, there is the compaction of the soil by heavy agricultural machinery, which makes it difficult for the snipe to penetrate with its beak, as well as increased bushing of the breeding areas.

    Migratory behavior

    The common snipe is a short- and long-distance migrant as well as a resident bird in the west of its breeding area. The wintering roosts of the snipe can be found in the north-west, west and south of Europe, in the Mediterranean area, in front and south Asia, in the northern tropical regions of West Africa and in East Africa up to the equator.

    Areas where snipes persist during winter include Iceland, western Norway, Denmark and Germany, among others. Winter snipes can also be found on Lake Constance, among other places. Individual finds of ringed birds also document migration routes from Germany to Senegal or Denmark to Senegal and Chad.

    The migration from the breeding grounds begins in Northern Europe from July. From mid-July onwards, migrants can increasingly be seen at the typical rest areas in northern Germany. At the beginning of the migration there are mainly young birds. The train lasts until the end of October and November. On the retreat to the breeding areas in Northern Europe, snipes can be observed in Central Europe especially in March.

    Subspecies

    Within the large range of the common snipe, at least two subspecies are described:

    When looking for food
    • Gallinago g. gallinago
      is the Eurasian nominate form , which breeds from Iceland and the British Isles over the European mainland to the Asian Kamchatka and also occurs on the Bering Island and Sakhalin . The nominate form with its large distribution area is divided into two populations. One breeds in Europe west of the Urals and overwinters mainly in the south and west of Europe and in north-west Africa. The second population occurs in western Siberia east of the Urals and overwinters predominantly in southwest Asia and in Africa south of the Sahara.

    There is also the North American form, which has been treated as a separate species since 2002 - Wilson's common snipe ( G. delicata ):

    • In
      contrast to the common snipe,       Gallinago (g.) Delicata has a slimmer body, a narrower white border on the wings and eight pairs of tail feathers instead of seven. However, the numbers can vary, so that specimens of the common snipe can have six to nine corresponding pairs of feathers.

    habitat

    The common snipe lives in wet meadows and open marshland, where it attracts attention during the breeding season with its courtship flights.

    The snipe prefers to breed in extensively managed wet meadows and marshes , in raised bogs , less often in large sedge plains and open reed beds , on wet fallow land or on the coast in salt marshes and kegs . It is important that the vegetation is not too dense and that it has enough muddy surfaces (gullies, ditches, banks) for food intake and sufficient cover. The snipe also needs a loose humus layer in which enough worms and insect larvae can be found.

    The snipe occurs in similar habitats during the spring migration as during the breeding season. In late summer and autumn, like other Limikolen, she likes to rest on relatively open mud flats on sewage fields and on clearing ponds, but also on flat banks and ditches.

    Food and subsistence

    Common snipe foraging

    Common snipes eat various insects and their larvae , mollusks , crustaceans , parts of plants and seeds . In some habitats, earthworms make up the majority of their food spectrum.

    While they are looking for food you can usually see them where the ground is damp or where there is shallow water. The snipe pokes deep underground or water with its long beak and strides slowly forward. They go so deep into the water that they sometimes stand up to their stomach in the water. In soft ground they sometimes insert their beaks up to their full length. Since they have a flexible beak tip, they are able to grasp and swallow small prey even under the ground without having to pull their beak out of the ground. They look for food especially during twilight, but they can also be observed during the day.

    Breeding biology

    Egg of the common snipe

    Common snipe usually reach sexual maturity in the first year of life. They lead a monogamous seasonal marriage, with the males probably not only mating with foreign females at the beginning of the breeding season.

    Common snipe as a winter guest in Taiwan

    In Central Europe snipe usually reach their breeding grounds from March. Occasionally, however, mating birds can be observed from mid-February. The territory is established by the male, the nesting site is chosen by the female. The nest is built on a wet to damp surface in the grass or between dwarf shrubs. It is a well-formed hollow that is lined with dry plant material. Laying begins in Central Europe at the end of March or beginning of April at the earliest. Most clutches are laid in late April and May. The clutch usually consists of four eggs. The laying interval is one day. The eggs are pointed oval and have a gray base color. They are reddish brown, speckled greenish to blackish. The incubation period is 18–20 days. Only the female parent bird breeds. The male stays near the nest. The young birds leave the nest on the first day, but are dependent on being fed by the parent birds. They are somewhat airworthy at 19 to 20 days and have reached their full airworthiness at four to five weeks.

    supporting documents

    literature

    Web links

    Wiktionary: Snipe  - explanations of meanings, origins of words, synonyms, translations
    Commons : Gallinago gallinago  - collection of images, videos and audio files

    Individual evidence

    1. ↑ Bird of the Year 2013 - NABU.de - Retrieved October 12, 2012
    2. ↑ Hayman et al., P. 355, (1986), see literature
    3. ↑ Glutz von Blotzheim, p. 26, see literature
    4. ↑ a b Hayman et al. (1986), p. 354, see literature
    5. ↑ Glutz von Blotzheim, p. 31, see literature
    6. ↑ Glutz von Blotzheim, p. 27f, see literature
    7. ↑ a b c Bauer et al., P. 487.
    8. ↑ Hans Carl: The German plant and animal names. Interpretation and linguistic order. Heidelberg 1957, Reprint edition Wiesbaden 1995, pages 214 and 261
    9. ↑ a b Glutz von Blotzheim, p. 37, see literature
    10. ↑ Glutz von Blotzheim, p. 66, see literature
    11. ↑ Reddig (1981), p. 13f, see literature
    12. ↑ Glutz von Blotzheim, p. 25, see literature
    13. ↑ Gallinago gallinago in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2008. Posted by: BirdLife International, 2008. Accessed on December 18 of 2008.
    14. ↑ a b c Bauer et al., P. 485.
    15. ↑ Christoph Grüneberg, Hans-Günther Bauer, Heiko Haupt, Ommo Hüppop, Torsten Ryslavy, Peter Südbeck: Red List of Germany's Breeding Birds , 5 version . In: German Council for Bird Protection (Hrsg.): Reports on bird protection . tape 52 , November 30, 2015.
    16. ↑ see WISIA research portal of the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation ; highest protection status as strictly protected within the meaning of § 7 para. 2 no. 14 c) Federal Nature Conservation Act by corresponding inclusion in the list under Section 1 Clause 2 Federal Species Protection Ordinance with Annex 1 ; for the selection of criminal offenses s. Section 44 (1) no. 1 and para. 2 no. 2 (ban on marketing), Section 69 (2) no. 1 and no. 21, Section 71 Paragraph 1 and Paragraph 4 of the Federal Nature Conservation Act
    17. ↑ Simon Delany, Derek Scott, Tim Dodman, David Stroud (Eds.): An Atlas of Wader Populations in Africa and Western Eurasia. Wetlands International , Wageningen 2009, ISBN 978-90-5882-047-1 , p. 279