Snipe birds

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Snipe birds
Common Common Snipe (Gallinago gallinago)

Common Common Snipe ( Gallinago gallinago )

Systematics
Sub-stem : Vertebrates (vertebrata)
Class : Birds (aves)
Order : Plover-like (Charadriiformes)
Family : Snipe birds
Scientific name
Scolopacidae
Vigors , 1825

The snipe birds (Scolopacidae) are a large family from the order of the plover-like (Charadriiformes). In addition to the genus of the actual snipe ( Scolopax ), it also contains the sandpiper ( Calidris ) and the water strider ( Tringa ) as well as many other genera. The family is common in the northern hemisphere .

features

Snipe birds are a very diverse group. The snipe type is characterized by long legs and a very long beak, which is also eponymous ( ahd. Snepfa is related to expressions for beak, point). In the curlew type, the beak is also strongly curved downwards. There is also the water strider type with medium-long beak and long legs, the sandpiper type with shorter legs and medium-long beak, and the short-beaked stone walnut type. The water treaders , who swim more like a duck and have short legs and medium-length beaks, differ.

beak

The beak is very different in length. The two extremes are the South Sea runner (half the length of the head) and the curlews (three times the length of the head). As a rule, the beak is straight, but in the curlew it is clearly curved downwards and in the common woodcock it is slightly curved upwards. A curved beak is useful for looking for food under stones. The turnstone have a very short but particularly powerful beak, which they use when turning heavy stones. A beak that also differs in shape can also be found in the spoon-pound sandpiper, here it is widened towards the end, like in spoonbills .

Almost all snipe birds (with the exception of the turnstone and the sea runner) have a swollen area with horn plates at the tip of the beak, the edges of which are richly covered with receptor cells for palpating prey. The snipe and sandpipers in particular use this device to search for food in soft sandy and silty soils. In addition, the beak is used to peck food components from the ground or the water surface and to plow through the water. Many snipe birds have long tongues to carry food from the tip of their beak; if this is not the case, as is the case with curlews, for example, the food must be carried to the throat by throwing and catching techniques. Those species that plow through the water with sideways beak movements press the water out again through a minimally open beak and thus keep small usable parts in their beak.

legs

With one exception, all snipe birds have an anisodactyl foot, that is, there are three front toes and one rear toe. The mentioned exception is the Sanderling, in which the rear toe is missing (tridactyly). Many snipe birds, such as the water treadmill, the common woodcock and some sandpipers, have partial webbed feet between their front toes; in some these exist only between the outer toes, but in the majority of species they are completely absent.

Wings and tail

There are many long-distance migrants among the snipe birds who can reach high speeds of 60 to 70 km / h with long and pointed wings. As with most traits, there are numerous exceptions. The common sandpiper, which usually flies close to the surface of the water with rapid flaps of its wings, only reaches 30 to 40 km / h. The species of the snipe type also have rather rounded wings, which are not suitable for fast flight, but are better suited for navigation in dense forest. While there are usually twelve tail feathers in snipe birds, there are up to 26 in the species of the snipe type. Some species can point the outer tail feathers outwards and thus produce vibrating noises.

Size and plumage

Snipe birds are small to medium-sized birds. On average, the species native to polar latitudes are larger than those living in warm regions ( Bergmann rule ). In many species there is also a size difference between the sexes. The males of the ruff are significantly larger than the females, whereas the curlew and water tetraders are the opposite. In the plumage of the vast majority of snipe birds, gray and brown tones predominate. There are only a few colorful representatives, and here too there is often a conspicuous gender dimorphism . In the common woodcock, the breeding dress of the male is an intense red, whereas in the female it is dull reddish brown; on the other hand, the plumage of the female is of a brighter red in the chickens than in the male. The most extreme difference is in the ruff, where males in brood plumage are equipped with colored feather headdresses and stand in considerable contrast to the simple females.

Salt glands

Snipe birds usually have salt glands between their eyes , through which excess salt can be released. Their size is very different depending on the species. In the freshwater and inland species, they are naturally strongly reduced or absent. On the other hand, they are large among the coastal dwellers, especially the mussel-eating knot, which ingests particularly large amounts of salt water with its food. In the case of migratory species, it can also be observed that the salt glands increase or decrease in size depending on the habitat.

distribution and habitat

Snipe birds are common on all continents. Most species can be found in the arctic and temperate cold climates of the northern hemisphere. Some snipe birds breed further north than all other birds. Species of the snipe type in particular can also be found in the tropics, many of which are island endemics .

There are also some resident birds (many tropical species, but also subpopulations of the common snipe and the curlew), but most of them are migratory birds , some of them even pronounced long-distance migrants. The Eskimo curlew brooded in the Canadian Arctic and migrated to Chile. Treaders breed in the high Arctic and are found in winter on the sea off the coasts of South America, Africa and Southeast Asia.

The habitat is extremely variable depending on the species. What all snipe birds have in common, however, is their proximity to water or at least their preference for a moist surface. In the tundra most species breed inland, only a few near the coast. The typical winter quarters are coasts and river deltas.

Way of life

activity

Outside of the breeding season, most species gather in large flocks that can contain several thousand individuals. These can also be of different types. Most snipe birds are also sociable on the migration. Exceptions are above all the solitary species of the snipe type.

What many snipe birds have in common is a constant up and down movement of their rear parts during their activity. Several reasons were given for this behavior, such as the adaptation of the bird to the movements of the waves, which would have a camouflaging effect, or the improvement of the sense of sight by changing the distance of the eyes from the ground. When resting, snipe birds often stand on one leg and hide their beak in their plumage.

nutrition

There is a wide range of food among snipe birds. They feed on worms , molluscs , crustaceans , small fish, insects and insect larvae, and sometimes also on plants. Snipe birds poking in the mudflats look for little-bristles , many-bristles , amphipods and woodlice . Some have specialized in hard-shelled mollusks such as snails and mussels, the knutt above all being mentioned here. Snipe birds that look for food in the open water also catch small fish. In the open sea, the treaders eat krill and occasionally peck parasites off the backs of emerging whales. For the representatives of the snipe type living inland, earthworms in particular are prey, but also insects and spiders.

Vegetable food such as seeds and buds is mainly taken in times of need when other food is scarce, for example when there is a thick blanket of snow. This is particularly pronounced in the ruff and the godwit in their winter quarters. In almost all of the species whose diet was examined, at least a small proportion of plants was found.

Reproduction

The vast majority of snipe birds live in monogamy . The pairs form quickly after the move, and both partners breed. However, there are numerous exceptions. The best known is probably the ruff, in which the males look after the favor of a female, but do not participate in the brood after mating. There are other examples, such as the double snipe, in which several males are also involved and in the end no pairing takes place. In the case of the water treaders, however, there is a role reversal; here the males breed while the females defend the nesting site.

In most species, the nest is a flat hollow in the ground. The amount of nesting material within a species can vary greatly depending on the conditions at the nesting site. In some species they are open and free on the ground or can be hidden in the vegetation. The planting surrounding the nesting hollow is occasionally pulled together to camouflage the nest. The wood sandpiper and occasionally the wood sandpiper deviate from this breeding behavior . They often use old nests of tree-breeding species.

The clutches of the snipe birds usually consist of four, in some species two or three round to oval eggs. These are well camouflaged by their mottling. The dune boys often have a back mark, which consists of a dark central stripe, which can be divided by a lighter band. There are usually several dark stripes on either side of the body. The young leave the nest very quickly after about three weeks of incubation and search for food independently, with one or both parents supervising and warming them. Snipe birds are able to fly after two to five weeks. Probably less than half survive the first year of life. The lifespan is rarely more than ten years, although a few ringed specimens lived for more than twenty years.

Systematics

The snipe birds are a family of the plover-like . Within this order, they belong to the subordination Scolopaci and, as a basic family, are compared to all other families of the Scolopaci as a sister group .

Common Common Snipe ( Gallinago gallinago )
Common godwit ( Limosa lapponica )
Turnstone in splendid dress
American curlew
Temminck sandpiper ( Calidris temminckii )
Ruff , splendid dress

Humans and snipe birds

Snipe birds were on the menu in many countries. This is especially true for the peoples of the Arctic and Northern Europe, where they were particularly common. The Knutt is even said to have been named after King Canute the Great, who had a predilection for the meat of this bird. In Central Europe, hunting the woodcock was particularly difficult, as this bird could hardly be hit due to its zigzag flight. It is therefore not surprising that part of the body of the hunted bird, the outermost hand wing in front of the first wing feather ( painter's feather), is considered a trophy, which in feathered game usually only occurs for particularly large or colorful animals ( capercaillie , jay ). The painter's pen is 3 cm long and inconspicuously brown and is used for fine brushstrokes, e.g. B. used in calligraphy .

From the English word (for snipe snipe ), the term derives Sniper for a sniper from. The downside of hunting was that the populations of some species were reduced to the point of collapse. The most famous example here is the Eskimo curlew, with several million individuals once one of the most common birds in North America, and now probably extinct.

supporting documents

literature

  • Josep del Hoyo et al .: Handbook of the Birds of the World (HBW). Volume 3: Hoatzin to Auks. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona 1996, ISBN 8487334202 .
  • 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 .
  • Collin Harrison and Peter Castell: Fledglings, Eggs and Nests of Birds in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. Aula Verlag, Wiebelsheim 2004, ISBN 3-89104-685-5
  • Lars Svensson , Peter J. Grant, Killian Mullarney, Dan Zetterström: The new cosmos bird guide: All species of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. Kosmos, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-440-07720-9 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Duden: The dictionary of origin. Etymology of the German language. Dudenverlag, 1989.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f del Hoyo et al .: HBW Volume 3, Morphology , pp. 448–455, see literature
  3. ↑ a b del Hoyo et al .: HBW Volume 3, Habitat , pp. 455-458, see literature
  4. ↑ del Hoyo et al .: HBW Volume 3, Movements , pp. 477-482, see literature
  5. ↑ a b del Hoyo et al .: HBW Volume 3, General Habits , pp. 458-461, see literature
  6. ↑ a b del Hoyo et al .: HBW Volume 3, Food and Feeding , pp. 464-468, see literature
  7. ↑ a b c del Hoyo et al .: HBW Volume 3, Breeding , pp. 468-477, see literature
  8. ^ Harrison et al., P. 136
  9. ↑ David W. Winkler, Shawn M. Billerman, Irby J. Lovette: Bird Families of the World: A Guide to the Spectacular Diversity of Birds. Lynx Edicions (2015), ISBN 978-8494189203 . Page 140–142.
  10. ↑ https://www.deerhunter.eu/de/blog/ Klassen/wildbiologie/ waldschnepfe
  11. ↑ del Hoyo et al .: HBW Volume 3, Relationship with man , pp. 482-484, see literature

Web links

Commons : Snipe Birds (Scolopacidae)  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files
Wiktionary: Schnepfe  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations