Wood snipe

Last updated

Wood snipe
Scolopax Nemoricola Wood Snipe Birds of India.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Scolopacidae
Genus: Gallinago
Species:
G. nemoricola
Binomial name
Gallinago nemoricola
Hodgson, 1836

The wood snipe (Gallinago nemoricola) is a species of snipe which breeds in the Himalayas of northern India, Nepal, Bhutan and southern China. In winter, it occurs at lower altitudes in the Himalayas, as a regular visitor in small numbers to north Vietnam. it also occurs as a vagrant in central and southern India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar, north Thailand and Laos. It is reportedly very well-known to Chauri herders in the Himalayas. [2]

Contents

This is a dark snipe, 28–32 centimetres (11–13 in) in length, with a short, broad-based bill. In the May-July breeding season, it breeds in alpine meadows above 3,000 metres (9,800 ft), moving to lower altitudes in the winter. Wood snipes breed and nest on boulders near rhododendron shrubs. [2] A 2021 study in Sichuan province during the breeding season (May-July), showed that the birds preferred the lower parts (3,378–3,624 m) of the alpine meadow with intermediate levels of soil moisture, with the birds preferring to forage at sites with higher soil fauna abundance. [3]

The species has been classified as vulnerable by IUCN, with a population of mature birds between 2500 and 10,000. [1] The widespread loss of wetlands habitats in its breeding and wintering grounds has been a major reason for its decline. [1] It has been recorded in some protected areas, including Langtang and Sagarmatha National Parks in Nepal.

It eats invertebrates, primarily worms. [4] Its diet also includes seeds [4] and larvae found in Chauri dung. [2]

Taxonomy

It was first described in 1836 by Brian Houghton Hodgson. [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alpine chough</span> Bird in the crow family

The Alpine chough or yellow-billed chough is a bird in the crow family, one of only two species in the genus Pyrrhocorax. Its two subspecies breed in high mountains from Spain eastwards through southern Europe and North Africa to Central Asia and Nepal, and it may nest at a higher altitude than any other bird. The eggs have adaptations to the thin atmosphere that improve oxygen take-up and reduce water loss.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chough</span> Genus of birds

There are two species of passerine birds commonly called chough that constitute the genus Pyrrhocorax of the Corvidae (crow) family of birds. These are the red-billed chough, and the Alpine chough. The white-winged chough of Australia, despite its name, is not a true chough but rather a member of the family Corcoracidae and only distantly related.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Common snipe</span> Species of bird

The common snipe is a small, stocky wader native to the Old World.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wilson's snipe</span> Species of bird

Wilson's snipe is a small, stocky shorebird. The generic name Gallinago is Neo-Latin for a woodcock or snipe from Latin gallina, "hen" and the suffix -ago, "resembling". The specific name delicata is Latin for "dainty".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great snipe</span> Species of bird

The great snipe is a small stocky wader in the genus Gallinago. This bird's breeding habitat is marshes and wet meadows with short vegetation in north-eastern Europe, including north-western Russia. Great snipes are migratory, wintering in Africa. The European breeding population is in steep decline.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pin-tailed snipe</span> Species of bird

The pin-tailed snipe or pintail snipe is a species of bird in the family Scolopacidae, the sandpipers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tibetan partridge</span> Species of bird

The Tibetan partridge is a gamebird in the pheasant family Phasianidae of the order Galliformes. They are found widely across the Tibetan Plateau and have some variations in plumage across populations. They forage on the ground in the sparsely vegetated high altitude regions, moving in pairs during the summer and in larger groups during the non-breeding season. Neither males nor females have spurs on their legs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Snow partridge</span> Species of bird

The snow partridge is a gamebird in the pheasant family Phasianidae found widely distributed across the high-altitude Himalayan regions of Pakistan, China, India and Nepal. It is the only species within its genus, and is thought to be the most basal member of the "erectile clade" of the subfamily Phasianinae. The species is found in alpine pastures and open hillside above the treeline but not in as bare rocky terrain as the Himalayan snowcock and is not as wary as that species. Males and females look similar in plumage but males have a spur on their tarsus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">White-throated bush chat</span> Species of bird

The white-throated bush chat, also known as Hodgson's bushchat, is an Old World flycatcher in the genus Saxicola. It is IUCN Red Listed as Vulnerable by BirdLife International. In 2001, the global population has been estimated at between 3,500 and 15,000 individuals. The major threat appears to be the rapid loss of grasslands in its wintering areas. It winters in the Nepal and Indian Terai and in the Dooars. In this region, it has been recorded in Jim Corbett, Shuklaphanta, Chitwan, Kaziranga, and Manas National Parks and in Lumbini Crane Sanctuary. It prefers wet and dry grasslands, reeds and tamarisks along riverbeds, and also occurs in sugarcane fields. In spring and summer, it breeds in the alpine or sub-alpine meadows and scrub in the mountains of Mongolia and adjacent parts of Russia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Latham's snipe</span> Species of bird

Latham's snipe is a medium-sized, long-billed, migratory snipe of the East Asian–Australasian Flyway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Swinhoe's snipe</span> Species of bird

Swinhoe's snipe,, also known as forest snipe or Chinese snipe, is a medium-sized, long-billed, migratory wader.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nepal house martin</span> Species of bird

The Nepal house martin is a non-migratory passerine of the swallow family Hirundinidae. Its two subspecies breed in the Himalayas from northwestern India through Nepal to Myanmar, northern Vietnam, and just into China. It occurs in river valleys and rugged wooded mountain ridges at heights between 1,000–4,000 m (3,300–13,100 ft) altitude, where it nests in colonies beneath overhangs on vertical cliffs, laying three or four white eggs in an enclosed mud nest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Asian house martin</span> Species of bird

The Asian house martin is a migratory passerine bird of the swallow family Hirundinidae. It has mainly blue-black upperparts, other than its white rump, and has pale grey underparts. Its three subspecies breed in the Himalayas and in central and eastern Asia, and spend the winter lower in the mountains or in Southeast Asia. This species is locally abundant and is expanding northward in Siberia, so there are no concerns about its conservation status.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Solitary snipe</span> Species of bird

The solitary snipe is a small stocky wader. It is found in the Palearctic from northeast Iran to Korea and Japan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fuegian snipe</span> Species of bird

The Fuegian snipe also known as the cordilleran snipe, is a small stocky wader. It breeds in south-central Chile and Argentina south to Tierra del Fuego. It is mainly sedentary, but the Tierra del Fuego population winters in mainland Chile.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Imperial snipe</span> Species of bird

The imperial snipe is a small stocky wader which breeds in the Andes. For a century it was known only from two specimens collected near Bogotá, Colombia, and was presumed extinct, but it was rediscovered in Peru in 1967 and Ecuador in 1988. It is not known if it is migratory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fire-capped tit</span> Species of bird

The fire-capped tit is a small, 10 cm (3.9 in) long, weighing about 7 g (0.25 oz) bird species assigned to the family Paridae, that breeds in the temperate forest bordering the Himalayas to the south, in the Hengduan Shan and Nujiang Shan on the Myanmar-China border, the Micah Shan and Daba Shan on the Northern Sichuan border. It winters down hill and further south. Further to the east, birds tend to be smaller and the plumage becomes gradually darker.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slaty-backed forktail</span> Species of bird

The slaty-backed forktail is a species of forktail in the family Muscicapidae. A slim, medium-sized forktail, it is distinguished from similar species by its slate grey forehead, crown, and mantle. It has a long and deeply forked tail banded in black and white, a white rump, and a white bar across its primary feathers; the rest of the plumage is predominantly white. The sexes look alike. The bird frequents the edges of fast-flowing streams and rivers, where it hunts small invertebrates by hopping among rocks or flying out over the water. It breeds between February and July, laying 3–4 pinkish, bluish, or white eggs; both sexes incubate the eggs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grey-backed shrike</span> Species of bird

The grey-backed shrike is a bird in the family Laniidae inhabiting South-east Asia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alpine musk deer</span> Species of musk deer

The Alpine musk deer is a musk deer species native to the eastern Himalayas in Nepal, Bhutan and India to the highlands of Tibet.

References

  1. 1 2 3 BirdLife International (2017). "Gallinago nemoricola". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2017: e.T22693082A117048348. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-3.RLTS.T22693082A117048348.en . Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 Basnet, Hari; Shrestha, Mohan Bikram; Thakuri, Deelip Chand; Pun, Tejab; Chaudhary, Dhiraj; Baral, Hem Sagar (2021-11-11). "Ecology and status of Wood Snipe Gallinago nemoricola in Lamtang National Park, Nepal". Wader Study. 128 (3). doi:10.18194/ws.00243. ISSN   2058-8410.
  3. Xiaotong Ren; Shen Zhang; Ke Huang; et al. (27 March 2023). "Habitat selection and population status of breeding Wood Snipe Gallinago nemoricola in an alpine meadow in Sichuan, China". Bird Conservation International. 33. doi:10.1017/S0959270923000047. ISSN   0959-2709. Wikidata   Q122705752.
  4. 1 2 Faheem, Mahmood Syed. "Wood snipe" . Retrieved 2023-09-08.
  5. Hodgson, B.H. "January 26, 1836". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London Pt4 no.37: 8.