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Gallinago media

Great Snipe, Cley (Norfolk), 12-May-11

Gallinago media

Cladus: Eukaryota
Supergroup: Opisthokonta
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Cladus: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Superclassis: Tetrapoda
Classis: Aves
Subclassis: Carinatae
Infraclassis: Neornithes
Parvclassis: Neognathae
Ordo: Charadriiformes
Subordo: Charadrii
Familia: Scolopacidae
Genus: Gallinago
Species: Gallinago media

Name

Gallinago media (Latham, 1787)

Reference

A General Synopsis of Birds Supplement p.292

Vernacular names
Internationalization
Česky: Bekasina větší
Ελληνικά: Διπλομπεκάτσινο
English: Great Snipe
Suomi: Heinäkurppa

The Great Snipe, Gallinago media 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 and north western Russia. Great Snipes are migratory, wintering in Africa. The European breeding population is in steep decline.

The males display at a dusk lek during the breeding season, standing erect with chest puffed and tail fanned. They may jump into the air. They produce a variety of rattles, clicks, buzzes and whistles while displaying. 3-4 eggs are laid in a nest in a well-hidden location on the ground.

These birds forage in soft mud, probing or picking up food by sight. They mainly eat insects and earthworms, and occasional plant material. They are difficult to see, being well camouflaged in their habitat. When flushed from cover, they fly straight for a considerable distance before dropping back into vegetation.

At 26–30 cm in length and a 42–50 cm wingspan, adults are only slightly larger, but much bulkier, than Common Snipe and have a shorter bill. The body is mottled brown on top and barred underneath. They have a dark stripe through the eye. The wings are broad, and a pale wingbar is visible in flight.

The Great Snipe is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies.

Fossils

Fossils of the Great Snipe have been uncovered in North Carolina, dating back to about 4.465 Ma ±0.865M. This suggests the bird must have at some point relocated across the Atlantic Ocean.[2]

References

1. ^ BirdLife International (2006). Gallinago media. 2006. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. www.iucnredlist.org. Retrieved on 11 May 2006. Database entry includes a brief justification of why this species is near threatened
2. ^ "The Paleobiology Database". 3 Jan 2009. http://paleodb.org/cgi-bin/bridge.pl?action=checkTaxonInfo&taxon_no=83481&is_real_user=1. Retrieved 10 Jul 2010.

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Source: Wikispecies: All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License