Jack Snipe (Lymnocryptes minimus)

[order] CHARADRIIFORMES | [family] Scolopacidae | [latin] Lymnocryptes minimus | [UK] Jack Snipe | [FR] Becassine sourde | [DE] Zwergschnepfe | [ES] | [NL]

Subspecies

Physical charateristics

Smallest snipe. large head, relatively short bill. Narrow wings with white trailing edge. Differs from all other snipes by wedge shaped tail, which lacks white, also lacks central stripe on crown and has purple and green gloss on black upperparts.
Sexes alike, juvenile very similar to adult, but has white undertail coverts with smaller and paler brown stripes.

Listen to the sound of Jack Snipe

[audio:http://www.aviflevoland.nl/sounddb/J/Jack Snipe.mp3]

Copyright remark: Most sounds derived from xeno-canto

Range

Eurasia : Central, West

Habitat

Breeds in open marshes, bogs and floodplaens, in forest tundra and northern taiga.
In winter, brackish and freshwater habitats, often in moist and waterlogged mudflats with tussocks of vegetation.
During cold spells often along margins of rivers, streams and inland spring fedmeadows.

Reproduction

Breeding from May to September. Monogamous, male performs switchback display flight, typically at dawn and dusk, but sometimes throughout day.
Nest often on floating bogs, but sometimes on drier ground among bushes, lined with pieces or grass or leaves.
4 eggs, possibly double brooded, incubation 21-24 days. Chick mahogany red, slightly paler below, with black and white bands on face and black areas with small white down tips on crown, nape, wing pads and upperparts.
Brood care apparently only by female.

Feeding habits

Insects, annelids, small freshwater and terrestrial gastropods and sometimes seeds.
Moves body rhythmically up and down when probing in mud, also pecks prey items from surface. Chiefly nocturnal or crepuscular. Usually feeds singly, sometimes in groups of up to 6 birds.

Conservation

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). The population trend appears to be stable, and hence the species does not 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.

Migration

Migratory. Winters mainly western and southern Europe, North Africa, northern Afrotropics, Turkey, northern Middle East, Iran, Afghanistan, and from Indian subcontinent to Vietnam. Always thinly distributed; believed largest numbers wintering west Palearctic occur in western maritime countries from Britain and Ireland to Iberia and Maghreb.
Occasional records from North Sea countries in July and early August may include summering non-breeders, since autumn passage does not normally begin until second half of August. Main movements through Europe south of Baltic occur mid-September to mid-November, and birds appear in Nigeria and East Africa during latter month. Return passage begins February in southern wintering areas, and early birds may reach southern Fenno-Scandia in March; main movement, however, in April, with breeding grounds reoccupied mid-April to mid-May, averaging later in east.

Migratory. Winters mainly western and southern Europe, North Africa, northern Afrotropics, Turkey, northern Middle East, Iran, Afghanistan, and from Indian subcontinent to Vietnam. Always thinly distributed; believed largest numbers wintering west Palearctic occur in western maritime countries from Britain and Ireland to Iberia and Maghreb.
Occasional records from North Sea countries in July and early August may include summering non-breeders, since autumn passage does not normally begin until second half of August. Main movements through Europe south of Baltic occur mid-September to mid-November, and birds appear in Nigeria and East Africa during latter month. Return passage begins February in southern wintering areas, and early birds may reach southern Fenno-Scandia in March; main movement, however, in April, with breeding grounds reoccupied mid-April to mid-May, averaging later in east.

Distribution map