Giant Snipe
Gallinago undulata
Massive snipe found in flooded savanna and grasslands where it usually flushes at close range, showing rounded wings and trailing legs. Has a very long broad-based bill. Yellowish head with two large black streaks. Breast and belly are quite pale and heavily streaked, contrasting with the bold rufous and black lines on the back. Usually detected by sound. On the ground sings a nasal mechanical “aga-aga-aga,” whilst in flight produces an eerie “Hori-go, Hori-go”.
Identification
This is the largest snipe at 36 to 47 cm (14 to 19 in) in length. G. u. gigantea, as its name suggests, is larger than the nominate subspecies with little overlap in size; for example, its bill length is usually more than 12 cm (4.7 in), whereas G. u. undulata is usually less than 11.5 cm (4.5 in) and total length is up to about 43.5 cm (17.1 in). Body mass in the nominate subspecies is from 270 to 362 g (9.5 to 12.8 oz), averaging 294 g (10.4 oz) in males and 332 g (11.7 oz), while in G. u. gigantea, body mass is known to range from 420 to 500 g (15 to 18 oz).<p>The giant snipe has a stocky body and relatively short legs for a wader. It has broad rounded wings like a woodcock and a very long bill. Its upperparts, head and neck are streaked and patterned with black and brown, and chestnut edges to the feathers form distinct lines down its back. The belly is white with brown barring on the flanks. The flight feathers are barred, a feature unique to this snipe. The horn-coloured bill is very long and straight. The legs and feet are greyish-green.<p>No plumage differences related to age or sex are known, but in other snipe the sexes are similar and immature birds differ only in showing pale fringes on the wing coverts.<p>The giant snipe has a kek-kek call when flushed, and a rasping trisyllabic call is given in its nocturnal display flight.<p>Giant snipe can be distinguished from the sympatric common and the Magellan snipe by its huge size and rounded wings. The other large species, Andean, Fuegian and imperial snipe, are upland species which lack the well-defined upperpart markings and white belly shown by giant snipe. The noble snipe is more similar to giant, but obviously smaller-bodied.
Taxonomy
The giant snipe was described by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in 1780 in his Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux from a specimen collected in Cayenne, French Guiana. The bird was also illustrated in a hand-coloured plate engraved by François-Nicolas Martinet in the Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle which was produced under the supervision of Edme-Louis Daubenton to accompany Buffon's text. Neither the plate caption nor Buffon's description included a scientific name but in 1783 the Dutch naturalist Pieter Boddaert coined the binomial name Scolopax undulata in his catalogue of the Planches Enluminées. The giant snipe is now placed in the genus Gallinago that was introduced by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760. The generic name is Neo-Latin for a woodcock or snipe from Latin gallina, "hen" and the suffix -ago, "resembling". The specific epithet undulatus is Latin for "with wave-like markings".<p>Two subspecies are recognised:
- Scientific name
- Gallinago undulata
- Authority
- (Boddaert, 1783)
- Order
- Charadriiformes
- Family
- Scolopacidae
- Genus
- Gallinago
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
Nests of the southern race have been found in Brazil in September and from November to early January. They are placed on a hillock between swamps, and 2–4 eggs are laid. No nests of the nominate subspecies have been found.<p>This species is rarely seen on the ground, and its habitat, reluctance to flush until almost trodden on, cryptic plumage, and nocturnal feeding mean its habits are almost unknown. Its diet apparently includes frogs. The giant snipe is usually seen alone when flushed.<p>Other Gallinago snipes have an aerial display, which involves flying high in circles, followed by a powerful stoop during which the bird makes a drumming sound, caused by vibrations of modified outer tail feathers. This species displays at night, but it is not known whether it drums.
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
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Ploceus katangae
This red-eyed masked-weaver has a plain olive-green back and pink-brown legs. The breeding male has a black face mask, with the black band on the forehead above the bill varying from broad in the south to narrow farther north. Female and juvenile are dull and inseparable from other masked-weavers. Pairs and colonies are localized residents of reedbeds, wetlands and adjacent woodland, in a narrow global range between northeastern Zambia and southeastern DRC. The breeding males of Katanga and Southern masked-weavers are very similar, but the former are smaller, have some saffron around the masks, and have darker green backs and rumps; breeding male Tanganyika and Lake Lufira Masked-Weavers have more burnt-orange around the face and underparts, and ranges do not overlap.
Mountain Yellow-Warbler
Iduna similis
Medium-sized, long-tailed, long-billed warbler. The back is olive-green and the underparts yellow. Found in montane habitats including bamboo, moist scrub, and forest edge. An active and energetic bird of the undergrowth. The distinctive song is an exuberant mix of downslurred and upslurred whistles and low rattles. Similar to African Yellow-Warbler, but in the areas where they overlap, mostly found at higher elevations, and distinguished by the olive-green, not black cap.
Reed Parrotbill
Paradoxornis heudei
Associated closely with the dense reedy vegetation of expansive wetlands, this baby-faced bird has a gray head, smart black eyebrow, and a warm brown body. While possessing the typical stout bill and long tail of most parrotbills, this species also has an exceptionally lanky appearance, unlike most of its stouter, more rotund kin. Gives raspy whistles and trills from the cover of the reeds as it moves through the vegetation in small-to-medium-sized flocks.
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