Common Snipe

Common Name	Common SnipeBirdlife International
Species name	Gallinago gallinagoBirdlife International
Family	Scolopacidae
Genus
Local Name	Country Appearance Local name Brunei Darussalam     Cambodia     China     Indonesia     Japan Yes タシギ Lao PDR     Malaysia     Mongolia     Myanmar     Philippines     Republic of Korea     Singapore     Thailand     Vietnam

 

Visual and Sound Image

Photos

Common Snipe

Videos

 

Sounds

 

Identification

No descriptions

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Range Description

This species has a large global population estimated to be >5,400,000-7,500,000 individuals1.

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Ecology

Ecology (Behaviour)

This species is fully migratory although some populations only migrate short distances2. It breeds from April to August3 in solitary territorial pairs and after breeding it moves to moulting areas before migrating south to the wintering grounds2. It is not a truly gregarious species6 although it usually forages in small groups2, occasionally also gathering in larger flocks of several hundred during migration or in the winter3. The species is also generally crepuscular in its activities2.

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Habitat

<Breeding> The species breeds on fresh or brackish marshland with rich or tussocky vegetation2, 3 including grassy or marshy edges of lakes and rivers2, marshy bogs and moors4, marshy tundra, wet meadows2, peat bogs, fens, swamps (North America)4 and swampy forest5.
<Non-breeding> In its wintering range the species frequents similar habitats to those it breeds in2, 3 including permanent and temporary swamps, the marshy edges of lakes and dams, flooded sedge and grassland7, also utilising more artificial habitats such as damp farmland3 (e.g. cattle pastures, sugar-cane fields4, rice-fields2), sewage farms2 and drainage ditches4. The species may also move to more coastal areas such as the upper reaches of estuaries and coastal meadows2 during periods of frost6.

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Diet

Its diet consists of adult and larval insects, earthworms, small crustaceans2 (e.g. isopods and amphipods)4, small gastropods, spiders2, small amphibians (Africa)7 and occasionally plant fibres, seeds and grit4.

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Breeding Site

The nest is a shallow scrape6 positioned on dry ground in marshes, fens, swamps and bogs4 (e.g. on a mound or sedge tuft)5 in the cover of grass, rushes, sedge or sphagnum moss2. The species nests in solitary territorial pairs at densities of between 10 and 38 or up to 110 pairs per kilometre2.

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References

1. Wetlands International (2002). 2. del Hoyo et al. (1996). 3. Hayman et al. (1986). 4. Johnsgard (1981). 5. Flint et al. (1984). 6. Snow and Perrins (1998). 7. Grishanov (2006). 8. Melville and Shortridge (2006). 9. Bregnballe et al. (2006). 10. Mateo et al. (1998). 11. Mondain-Monval et al. (2002). 12. Olivier (2006). 13. Bregnballe et al. (2004). 14. Baines (1988). 15. Jackson (2001). 16. Holton and Allcorn (2006). 17. Yarovikova (2006). 18. Clausager (2006).

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Status

International Status

IUCN Red List Category

LC

Justification

This species has an extremely large range, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the range size criterion (Extent of Occurrence <20,000 km2 combined with a declining or fluctuating range size, habitat extent/quality, or population size and a small number of locations or severe fragmentation). Despite the fact that the population trend appears to be decreasing, the decline is not believed to be sufficiently rapid to approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population trend criterion (>30% decline over ten years or three generations). The population size is extremely large, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population size criterion (<10,000 mature individuals with a continuing decline estimated to be >10% in ten years or three generations, or with a specified population structure). For these reasons the species is evaluated as Least Concern.
<Population justification> Total regarded as a minimum by Wetlands International (2006).
<Trend justification> The overall population trend is decreasing, although some populations may be stable and others have unknown trends (Wetlands International 2006). This species has undergone a small or statistically insignificant decrease over the last 40 years in North America (data from Breeding Bird Survey and/or Christmas Bird Count: Butcher and Niven 2007) In Europe, trends since 1980 show that populations have undergone a moderate decline (p<0.01), based on provisional data for 21 countries from the Pan-European Common Bird Monitoring Scheme (EBCC/RSPB/BirdLife/Statistics Netherlands; P. Vorisek in litt. 2008).

 

National Status

Country	Category	Reference
Brunei Darussalam
Cambodia
China
Indonesia
Japan
Korea
Lao PDR
Malaysia
Mongolia
Myanmar
Philippines
Singapore
Thailand
Vietnam

 

Management

Threat

The species is threatened by habitat changes such as wetland drainage2 and grassland improvement2 (e.g. through drainage, inorganic fertilising and reseeding)14. Important migratory stop-over habitats in the Kaliningrad region of Russia are also threatened by petroleum pollution, wetland and flood-plain drainage (for irrigation and water management), peat-extraction, reedbed mowing and burning, and abandonment and changing land management practices leading to scrub and reed overgrowth7. The species suffers from lead poisoning as a result of ingesting lead shot deposited on wetlands10, 11, 12, suffers nest predation by introduced mammals (e.g. European hedgehog Erinaceus europaeus) on islands15, and is susceptible to avian influenza so may be threatened by future outbreaks of the viurs8. The species is hunted for sport (e.g. in Denmark)9.

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Information

Studies in Danish coastal wetlands found that the spatial restriction of shore-based shooting was more successful at maintaining waterfowl population sizes than was the temporal restriction of shooting, and therefore that wildfowl reserves should incorporate shooting-free refuges that include adjacent marshland in order to ensure high waterbird species diversity13. The species is known to show increased hatching successes when ground predators have been excluded by erecting protective fences around nesting areas15. At a reserve in the UK management strategies such as reseeding grasslands to be dominated by rushes Juncus spp. and purple moor-grass Molinia caerulea, mechanical cutting and grazing, digging small scrapes and maintaining high water-levels succeeded in attracting an increased number of breeding pairs to the area16. The annual success of reproduction is estimated every year by wing surveys in Denmark since the 1970s and in France since the mid-1990s18. Hunting bags are estimated every year in Denmark18.

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Current Conservation

No descriptions

Birdlife International

Current Conservation

No descriptions

Birdlife International

Legal Protection

Country	Status	Reference
Brunei Darussalam
Cambodia
China
Indonesia
Japan
Korea
Lao PDR
Malaysia	Protected Wild Birds Part I: Game Birds(as Capella gallingo)	Law of Malaysia Act 76, Protection of Wild Life Act 1972 (Amend. 2006)
Mongolia
Myanmar
Philippines
Singapore
Thailand
Vietnam

 

Related Links

 

Range

Geographical Information

Migration Route

 

Asian Waterbird Census

Descriptions

The Asian Waterbird Census (AWC) was initiated in 1987 and runs in parallel with other waterbird censuses carried out in Africa, Europe, Central and West Asia and Latin America under the umbrella of the International Waterbird Census (IWC), which is organised by Wetlands International.

The AWC takes place annually, during the second and third weeks of January, and is carried out by volunteers interested in collecting information on waterbirds and wetlands as a basis for contributing to their conservation.

Reference: Li, Z.W.D., Bloem, A., Delany S., Martakis G. and Quintero J. O. 2009. Status of Waterbirds in Asia - Results of the Asian Waterbird Census: 1987-2007. Wetlands International, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Census Data

BRUNEI DARUSSALAM	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
The number of observed individual					6	12		2					2
The number of observed sites(not all count sites)					1	1		1					1
The total number of count sites	2	3	3	2	4	4	0	4	4	4	4	5	5	0	0	0	9	0	0	1	0	9
CAMBODIA	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
The number of observed individual								2			9			7	2	14	14		178	202	154	118
The number of observed sites(not all count sites)								1			1			1	2	2	2		2	3	2	1
The total number of count sites	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	0	0	11	0	0	12	12	11	5	1	6	9	6	6
CHINA	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
The number of observed individual			53	208	1018	776	39	215										148	331	349	31	37
The number of observed sites(not all count sites)			2	3	8	8	2	2										5	27	18	6	4
The total number of count sites	0	1	34	12	50	60	67	29	6	14	6	15	21	20	14	10	22	45	80	81	59	72
INDONESIA	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
The number of observed individual						1			2					1
The number of observed sites(not all count sites)						1			1					1
The total number of count sites	0	0	0	1	19	8	17	17	15	19	16	0	0	47	12	10	40	34	14	16	15	23
JAPAN	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
The number of observed individual								27	42	41	99	73	34	84	275	409	464	489	339	464	259	340
The number of observed sites(not all count sites)								4	10	9	13	9	7	8	35	40	42	40	35	37	30	31
The total number of count sites	0	0	0	53	39	52	47	20	50	40	47	37	41	37	107	112	103	109	97	159	142	137
LAO PDR	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
The number of observed individual				21	22	42	26	8	5
The number of observed sites(not all count sites)				1	1	1	1	1	1
The total number of count sites	0	0	0	2	4	5	3	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	14	1	0	0	0	1	0	0
MALAYSIA	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
The number of observed individual				5	20	69	85	1	2								2	8	20	12	6	4
The number of observed sites(not all count sites)				1	4	12	6	1	1								1	3	4	3	2	2
The total number of count sites	0	0	0	59	68	93	85	17	10	7	10	0	0	20	25	25	25	43	43	82	82	40
MYANMAR	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
The number of observed individual		50		7	20	204	8	153	38	41		15			25	7	9	157	26	11	28	3
The number of observed sites(not all count sites)		2		1	2	4	3	7	2	4		1			3	3	3	13	9	2	5	2
The total number of count sites	0	5	3	12	17	15	21	20	13	12	2	4	2	0	7	32	47	73	24	31	32	19
PHILIPPINES	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
The number of observed individual
The number of observed sites(not all count sites)
The total number of count sites	0	0	0	0	19	21	34	39	46	47	39	28	29	32	43	38	50	47	56	54	65	108
SINGAPORE	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
The number of observed individual					1	3	14	25	26							17	5					1
The number of observed sites(not all count sites)					1	2	4	5	3							1	1					1
The total number of count sites	0	0	0	0	4	12	17	15	13	14	10	10	6	11	10	10	8	9	9	8	8	7
REPUBLIC OF KOREA	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
The number of observed individual							4								6	4		10	3	15	6	3
The number of observed sites(not all count sites)							1								2	3		2	3	6	2	3
The total number of count sites	0	0	10	12	22	20	20	15	10	22	25	22	14	68	99	112	118	116	117	123	127	127
THAILAND	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
The number of observed individual	60		15	816	159	26	50	8	25	2	1				59	218	270	71	176	167	204	14
The number of observed sites(not all count sites)	2		1	12	9	3	6	2	3	1	1				2	3	5	4	8	19	23	5
The total number of count sites	10	8	3	20	26	12	23	16	17	5	9	3	1	1	7	3	9	26	20	82	99	33
VIETNAM	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
The number of observed individual					10		3			23				21	117	130	70		1	5	4	1
The number of observed sites(not all count sites)					2		1			1				1	1	1	2		1	2	2	1
The total number of count sites	0	0	0	1	2	0	1	4	0	1	1	0	1	8	2	2	16	4	4	9	6	11

 

Population

Descriptions

 

Population Trend

 

Additional Information

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Climate change species distributions

 

Other Information

• Detailed species account from Birds in Europe: population estimates, trends and conservation status (BirdLife International 2004)