Birds of Colombia - Gallinago


Wilson's Snipe (Gallinago delicata) Canada
Photograph by Nigel from Vancouver Copyright and usage info This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported. In short: you are free to share the file for non-commercial purposes under the conditions that you appropriately attribute it, and that you distribute it only under a license identical to this one. If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you may not distribute the modified material.

Found at all altitudes, and smaller than Noble Snipe.


Imperial Snipe (Gallinago imperialis) Near Threatened Image credit: Exotic Ornithology, London, 1869, illustration by Bernard Quaritch.
Photograph by Prints Copyright and usage info This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 100 years or less.

The Imperial Snipe is a medium-sized snipe that is more similar to the American Woodcock than other South American snipes (HBW). Note sharp change of color from chest to belly. Found in bogs at treeline (at high altitude where forest ends).


Jameson's Snipe (Gallinago jamesoni) Papallacta, Ecuador Note thick base to bill and more barred belly than Noble Snipe.
Photograph by Angus Pritchard © All Rights Reserved.


Noble Snipe (Gallinago nobilis) Near Threatened Sumapaz National Park, Colombia
Photograph by Tom Friedel © All Rights Reserved.

A large snipe generally found in high altitude marshes in the paramo. Note white belly.
Probing for food.


South American Snipe (Gallinago paraguaiae) Parque Iguaçu, Curitiba, Brazil
Photograph by Ben Tavener Copyright and usage info This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported. In short: you are free to share the file for commercial or non-commercial purposes under the conditions that you appropriately attribute it, and that you distribute it only under a license identical to this one.

A small snipe closely related to Wilson's Snipe in North American and Common Snipe in Eurasia. Widespread and found up to mid altitude levels in the Andes. In 2020 the Magellanic Snipe of the Southern Cone was split from this species.


Giant Snipe (Gallinago undulata gigantea) REGUA, Cachoeiras de Macacu, RJ, Brazil
Photograph by Francesco Veronesi Copyright and usage info This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Unported. In short: you are free to share and make derivative works of the file for non-commercial purposes under the conditions that you appropriately attribute it, and that you distribute it only under a license identical to this one.

Nocturnal.