How to Identify aWilson's Snipe
Gallinago delicata · 10.6–12.6 in (27–32 cm)
Male vs. female
Male
Boldly striped brown, buff and black with pale racing stripes along the back, a striped head and a very long straight bill. Sexes look alike.
Female
Identical to the male in the field.
Male photo: Gallinago-delicata-002.jpg: Mdf derivative work: Donkey shot / Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Second photo: Bettina Arrigoni / Wikimedia, CC BY 2.0
Field marks
- Bold buff-white stripes running down the back
- Very long straight bill, twice the head length
- Striped crown and face
- Bursts into fast zigzagging flight when flushed
Similar species
What it sounds like
A harsh rasping "scaipe" when flushed, plus a hollow winnowing sound made in display flight.
Behaviour that gives it away
Its display winnowing is not vocal at all — air rushing past stiff outer tail feathers produces the hollow pulsing sound.
Habitat & range
Marshes, wet meadows, flooded fields and boggy edges.
When you'll see it
Depending on where in North America you are, it is a winter visitor and a passage migrant, seen mainly in spring and autumn.
What it eats
Insect larvae and worms probed from soft mud.
Did you know?
The eerie winnowing heard over spring marshes is made by air through its tail feathers, not by its voice.
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