Agachadiza de Latham

Identificación

The snipe is 29–33 cm long, with a wingspan of 50–54 cm and weight of 150–230 g.<p>It is identifiable as a Gallinago snipe by its cryptically-patterned black, brown, buff and white plumage but, in the field, it is not easily distinguished from Swinhoe's and pin-tailed snipe, though it is slightly larger.

Taxonomía

Nombre científico

Gallinago hardwickii

Autoridad

(Gray, JE, 1831)

Orden

Charadriiformes

Familia

Escolopácidos

Género

Gallinago

Distribución y hábitat

The snipe breeds mainly in Hokkaidō in northern Japan, with smaller numbers on Honshū, the eastern Russian mainland and Sakhalin and, historically, the Kurile Islands. The entire population migrates and spends the non-breeding season principally in eastern Australia, where it is the commonest Gallinago snipe. It has been recorded on migration in Taiwan, the Philippines and New Guinea, and is a rare straggler to New Zealand.<p>The snipe's breeding habitat in Asia includes alpine moorland, grasslands, rough pasture, young tree plantations and cultivated areas. Non-breeding habitat in Australia is shallow freshwater wetlands of various kinds, with bare mud or shallow water for feeding and nearby vegetation cover for shelter.

Área de cría

PAL : meadows and fields of temperate ne Palearctic: e Amurland and s Sakhalin (se Russia) and s Kuril Is. s through Honshu and ?Kyushu (n to s Japan)

Área no reproductiva

AU : tropical to temperate freshwater wetlands: e Australia including Tasmania

Migración

Complete migrants

Comportamiento

Courtship consists of display flights and drumming by the males. It nests on the ground, concealed in vegetation, with a clutch of four eggs.<p>Latham's snipe is an omnivorous species that feeds on seeds and other plant material (mainly from species in families such as Cyperaceae, Poaceae, Juncaceae, Polygonaceae, Ranunculaceae and Fabaceae), and on invertebrates including insects (mainly flies and beetles), earthworms, spiders and occasionally molluscs, isopods and centipedes.

Conservación

Internationally, Latham's snipe is considered to be a species near threatened. In Australia it was previously hunted as a gamebird but is now fully protected and is listed as Vulnerable under the Australian EPBC Act, following assessment in the 2020. It is listed as "rare" under South Australia's National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972.

Tendencia poblacional

declining