Birds of the World


Puna Snipe (Gallinago andina andina) Range: SA: montane wet grassland of w South America: Peru to n Chile and nw Argentina Peru
Photograph by Gareth Knass © All Rights Reserved.

Closest to Pantanal Snipe, but note puna habitat, white belly and yellow legs.


Wilson's Snipe (Gallinago delicata) Range: NA: Alaska to e Canada and northern tier of continental USA 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.


Common Snipe (Gallinago gallinago gallinago) Range: PAL: widespread low Arctic to temperate wetlands of Palearctic: Iceland to British Isles, Scandinavia, France and Azores (n Macaronesia, nw of n Africa) e through n Russia to c Chukotskiy Pen., Kamchatka, Sea of Okhotsk and Commander Is. (se Russia); in s to n Ariège, France
Photograph by Pierre Dalous Copyright and usage info This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported. In short: you are free to share and make derivative works of the file under the conditions that you appropriately attribute it, and that you distribute it only under a license identical to this one.


Latham's Snipe (Gallinago hardwickii) Near Threatened Range: PAL: meadows and fields of temperate ne Palearctic: e Amurland and s Sakhalin (se Russia) and s Kuril Is. s through Honshu and ?Kyushu (n to s Japan) Sydney Olympic Park, Australia
Photograph by JJ Harrison Copyright and usage info This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported. In short: you are free to share and make derivative works of the file under the conditions that you appropriately attribute it, and that you distribute it only under a license identical to this one.


Imperial Snipe (Gallinago imperialis) Near Threatened Range: SA: elfin forest montane bogs of nw South America: Ecuador to Peru (old records Colombia) 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) Range: SA: montane bogs of n to wc South America: wc Venezuela to nc Bolivia Papallacta, Ecuador Note thick base to bill and more barred belly than Noble Snipe.
Photograph by Angus Pritchard © All Rights Reserved.

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Madagascar Snipe (Gallinago macrodactyla) Vulnerable Range: AF: wetlands of e Madagascar


Magellanic Snipe (Gallinago magellanica) magellanicae Range: SA: wet grassland of temperate s South America: c Chile and c Argentina to Tierra del Fuego and Falkland Is. Carcass Island, Falkland Islands
Photograph by Rob Dunbar © Robert B. Dunbar. All Rights Reserved.


Great Snipe (Gallinago media) Near Threatened Range: PAL: subarctic to temperate meadows of nw Palearctic: w, n Scandinavia and e Poland through w Russia to Yenisei River (w Siberia) England
Photograph by Stephen G. Davis © All Rights Reserved.


Swinhoe's Snipe (Gallinago megala) Range: PAL: temperate woodland-edge wetlands of c, e Palearctic: ne Kazakhstan, sc Siberia, nc Mongolia and Amurland (se Russia) Gun Galuut, Mongolia
Photograph by Bradley Hacker © All Rights Reserved.

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Wood Snipe (Gallinago nemoricola) Vulnerable Range: OR: alpine meadows and scrub of subtropical Asian mts.: w Himalayas from Himachal Pradesh to e India and sc China


African Snipe (Gallinago nigripennis) Range: AF: subtropical to tropical wetlands of ne, sc, s Africa South Africa
Photograph by Graham Searll © All Rights Reserved.


African Snipe (Gallinago nigripennis nigripennis) Range: AF: subtropical to tropical wetlands of ne, sc, s Africa South Africa
Photograph by Graham Searll © All Rights Reserved.


Noble Snipe (Gallinago nobilis) Near Threatened Range: SA: montane wet grassland of nw South America: far w Venezuela to far n Peru 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.


Pantanal Snipe (Gallinago paraguaiae) Range: SA: wetlands of tropical to subtropical n, c South America: Trinidad, c, e Colombia through the Guianas s to n Argentina and Uruguay 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.

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Solitary Snipe (Gallinago solitaria) Range: PAL: montane wetlands of c, e Palearctic: Altai and Tien Shan mts. from sc Russia, ne Kazakhstan, nw Xinjiang and n Mongolia e to Kamchatka and ne China


Pin-tailed Snipe (Gallinago stenura) Range: PAL: low Arctic tundra to temperate montane meadows of nc, ne Palearctic: nw Siberia and ne Kazakhstan and n Mongolia to c Chukotskiy Pen. to Sea of Okhotsk (e Siberia) Laem Pak Bia, Phetchaburi, Thailand
Photograph by JJ Harrison Copyright and usage info This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported. In short: you are free to share and make derivative works of the file under the conditions that you appropriately attribute it, and that you distribute it only under a license identical to this one.

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Fuegian Snipe (Gallinago stricklandii) Near Threatened Range: SA: bogs of temperate s South America: c, s Chile and s Argentina to Cape Horn and Isla de los Estados (e of Tierra del Fuego)


Giant Snipe (Gallinago undulata gigantea) Range: SA: wet grassland of n, se South America 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.