[order] CHARADRIIFORMES | [family] Scolopacidae | [latin] Gallinago undulata | [UK] Giant Snipe | [FR] Becassine geante | [DE] Riesenbekassine | [ES] Agachadiza Gigante | [NL] Reuzensnip
Subspecies
| Genus | Species | subspecies | Breeding Range | Breeding Range 2 | Non Breeding Range |
| Gallinago | undulata | SA | n, se | ||
| Gallinago | undulata | gigantea | e Bolivia to Paraguay, se Brazil and ne Argentina | ||
| Gallinago | undulata | undulata | Colombia, Venezuela, the Guianas, n Brazil |
Physical charateristics
A large snipe with barred wings and striped fore-neck and breast. Like the common snope (G. gallinago) but larger and finely barred primaries. With a brown bill, lead colored legs and a brown iris.
Listen to the sound of Giant Snipe
[audio:http://www.aviflevoland.nl/sounddb/G/Giant Snipe.mp3]
Copyright remark: Most sounds derived from xeno-canto
| wingspan min.: | cm | wingspan max.: | cm | ||
| size min.: | 40 | cm | size max.: | 47 | cm |
| incubation min.: | 0 | days | incubation max.: | 0 | days |
| fledging min.: | 0 | days | fledging max.: | 0 | days |
| broods: | 1 | eggs min.: | 2 | ||
| eggs max.: | 4 |
Range
South America : North, Southeast
Habitat
It has been found in tall vegetation in swamps and flooded grasslands, and occasionally in dry savannas, from the tropical zone locally up to 2.200 meter. It apparently also occurs in degraded habitat following forest clearance.
Reproduction
In Brazil, nests have been found in September and from November to early January; nests are generally placed on a small hillock between swamps, and 2-4 eggs are laid. very poorly known.
Feeding habits
Its diet apparently includes frogs and it may feed only at night
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). Despite the fact that the population trend appears to be decreasing, the decline is not believed to be sufficiently rapid to approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population trend criterion (>30% decline over ten years or three generations). The population size has not been quantified, but it is not believed to 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
The movements of this species are very poorly understood, and it appears to arrive seasonally at some sites, apparently after rain.
Distribution map
