Common Snipe
Common Snipe Gallinago gallinago
Etymology:
- Gallinago : Latin word for Woodcock or Snipe
- Gallinago : Latin word for Woodcock or Snipe
Vernacular Names: Sind: Likpakhi, Hindi: Chaha, Ben: Kadakhocha, Chegga, Ass: Khochasorai, Chahasorai, Chergya, Cachar: Dao didap, Mani: Cheklaobi,Kuki: Vohtialin, Naga: Ti inrui, Nepal: Bharak,Ta: Morullan, Ullankuruvi, Korrakothi, Te: Mukupuredi, Mal: Chuntan kata, Sinh: Keswatuwa , Sans: Vyanjan punch pankeer, Pun: Pakhipunjhachaha, Guj: Garkhod, Pankhapunchgarkhod, Mar: SamanyaPanlawa
Distribution inIndia: Breeds in Himalayas and Widespread Winter visitor in India.
Description: Size of25-27cm.It is asmall to medium-sized snipe, with rather long bill and white belly; plumage variable. The flight is generally faster and more erratic than other snipes of similar size. They have short greenish-grey legs and a very long straight dark bill. The body is mottled brown with straw-yellow stripes on top and pale underneath. They have a dark stripe through the eye, with light stripes above and below it. The wings are pointed.The sexes are alike, differing only in measurements of body and feathers, especially total length of outer tail feather.
Habitat: It is found in open fresh or brackish marshland with rich or vegetation, grassy or marshy edges of lakes and rivers, wet hay fields, swampy meadows and marshy tundra, in forest tundra and northernmost taiga zones; in general, found in areas providing combination of grassy cover and moist soils, rich in organic matter.
Food Habits: It eats larval insects, adult insects, earthworms, small crustaceans, small gastropods and spiders; plant fibers and seeds consumed in smaller quantities. It feeds by vertical, rhythmic probing in substrate, often without removing bill from soil. It feeds typically in small group. It is crepuscular.
Breeding Habits: They breed in May-July inwestern Alaska, Ellesmere Island, Greenland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Estonia ,Scotland, Germany and northern Russia.The nest is constructed by female usually on dry spot. The nest is a scrape covered by grasses, rushes, sedges or sphagnum, lined with fine grasses. They lay a clutch of 2-5 eggs with laying interval of one day. The incubation period is 17–21 days. The incubation done by female alone, starting with third or fourth egg. Both parents care for young, but male entices 2 of the oldest chicks from nest to tend them separately. The young are initially fed bill-to-bill. The fledging period is 19–20 days.