Snipe
Encyclopedia
A snipe is any of about 25 wading
bird species in three genera
in the family
Scolopacidae
. They are characterized by a very long, slender bill and crypsis
plumage
. The Gallinago
snipes have a nearly worldwide distribution, the Lymnocryptes
Jack Snipe is restricted to Asia
and Europe
and the Coenocorypha
snipes are found only in the Outlying Islands of New Zealand
. The three species of painted snipe
are not closely related to the typical snipes, and are placed in their own family, the Rostratulidae.
family Scolopacidae
. The 15 typical snipes in the genus Gallinago are the closest relatives of the woodcock
s, whereas the small genera Coenocorypha and Lymnocryptes represent earlier divergences in the snipe/woodcock clade
.
s in the mud with a "sewing-machine" action of their long bills. The sensitiveness of the bill, though to some extent noticeable in many sandpipers, is in snipes carried to an extreme by a number of filaments, belonging to the fifth pair of nerves, which run almost to the tip and open immediately under the soft cuticle in a series of cells. They give this portion of the surface of the premaxillaries, when exposed, a honeycomb-like appearance. Thus the bill becomes a most delicate organ of sensation, and by its means the bird, while probing for food, is at once able to distinguish the nature of the objects it encounters, though these are wholly out of sight.
,” referring to a skilled anti-personnel military sharpshooter.
Wader
Waders, called shorebirds in North America , are members of the order Charadriiformes, excluding the more marine web-footed seabird groups. The latter are the skuas , gulls , terns , skimmers , and auks...
bird species in three genera
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
in the family
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
Scolopacidae
Scolopacidae
The sandpipers are a large family, Scolopacidae, of waders or shorebirds. They include many species called sandpipers, as well as those called by names such as curlew and snipe. The majority of these species eat small invertebrates picked out of the mud or soil...
. They are characterized by a very long, slender bill and crypsis
Crypsis
In ecology, crypsis is the ability of an organism to avoid observation or detection by other organisms. It may be either a predation strategy or an antipredator adaptation, and methods include camouflage, nocturnality, subterranean lifestyle, transparency, and mimicry...
plumage
Plumage
Plumage refers both to the layer of feathers that cover a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage vary between species and subspecies and can also vary between different age classes, sexes, and season. Within species there can also be a...
. The Gallinago
Gallinago
Gallinago is a genus of birds in the wader family Scolopacidae, containing 16 species. This genus contains the majority of the world's snipe species, the other three extant genera being Coenocorypha, with two species, and Lymnocryptes, the Jack Snipe. Morphologically, they are all similar, with a...
snipes have a nearly worldwide distribution, the Lymnocryptes
Jack Snipe
The Jack Snipe, Lymnocryptes minimus is a small stocky wader. It is the smallest snipe, and the only member of the genus Lymnocryptes...
Jack Snipe is restricted to Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and the Coenocorypha
Coenocorypha
Coenocorypha is a genus of tiny birds in the sandpiper family, also known as the New Zealand snipes, which are now only found on New Zealand's outlying islands. There are currently six extinct species and three living species, with the Subantarctic Snipe having three subspecies, including the...
snipes are found only in the Outlying Islands of New Zealand
New Zealand Outlying Islands
The New Zealand outlying islands comprise nine island groups, located in the subtropics and subantarctic, which are part of New Zealand but lie outside of the New Zealand continental shelf. Although considered as integral parts of New Zealand, seven of the nine island groups are not part of any...
. The three species of painted snipe
Painted snipe
Painted snipes are three distinctive wader species in the family Rostratulidae. The family is composed to two genera, Rostratula and Nycticryphes. The Australian Painted Snipe is often treated as a subspecies of the Greater Painted Snipe, but morphological and genetic differences have resulted in...
are not closely related to the typical snipes, and are placed in their own family, the Rostratulidae.
Taxonomy
The snipe is part of the waderWader
Waders, called shorebirds in North America , are members of the order Charadriiformes, excluding the more marine web-footed seabird groups. The latter are the skuas , gulls , terns , skimmers , and auks...
family Scolopacidae
Scolopacidae
The sandpipers are a large family, Scolopacidae, of waders or shorebirds. They include many species called sandpipers, as well as those called by names such as curlew and snipe. The majority of these species eat small invertebrates picked out of the mud or soil...
. The 15 typical snipes in the genus Gallinago are the closest relatives of the woodcock
Woodcock
The woodcocks are a group of seven or eight very similar living species of wading birds in the genus Scolopax. Only two woodcocks are widespread, the others being localized island endemics. Most are found in the Northern Hemisphere but a few range into Wallacea...
s, whereas the small genera Coenocorypha and Lymnocryptes represent earlier divergences in the snipe/woodcock clade
Clade
A clade is a group consisting of a species and all its descendants. In the terms of biological systematics, a clade is a single "branch" on the "tree of life". The idea that such a "natural group" of organisms should be grouped together and given a taxonomic name is central to biological...
.
Behavior
Snipe search for invertebrateInvertebrate
An invertebrate is an animal without a backbone. The group includes 97% of all animal species – all animals except those in the chordate subphylum Vertebrata .Invertebrates form a paraphyletic group...
s in the mud with a "sewing-machine" action of their long bills. The sensitiveness of the bill, though to some extent noticeable in many sandpipers, is in snipes carried to an extreme by a number of filaments, belonging to the fifth pair of nerves, which run almost to the tip and open immediately under the soft cuticle in a series of cells. They give this portion of the surface of the premaxillaries, when exposed, a honeycomb-like appearance. Thus the bill becomes a most delicate organ of sensation, and by its means the bird, while probing for food, is at once able to distinguish the nature of the objects it encounters, though these are wholly out of sight.
Hunting
Camouflage may enable snipe to remain undetected by hunters in marshland. If the snipe flies, hunters have difficulty estimating a correct aiming lead for the bird's erratic flight pattern. The difficulties involved in hunting snipe gave rise to the term “sniperSniper
A sniper is a marksman who shoots targets from concealed positions or distances exceeding the capabilities of regular personnel. Snipers typically have specialized training and distinct high-precision rifles....
,” referring to a skilled anti-personnel military sharpshooter.
External links
- Snipe videos on the Internet Bird Collection
- http://www.fssbirding.org.uk/snipesonogram.htm