Great snipe

Latin Gallinago media
Estonian Rohunepp

Also known as: no known names

Status in Estonia

Breeding bird.

Description

The great snipe is slightly bigger and stockier than the common snipe and has a shorter beak. It has large dark coverts with a white edge on the upper side of the wings as well as dark primary coverts with a white tip. The underside has wide stripes. The edge of the tail has a wide white edge. When the bird is standing, the wing coverts with white tips form stripes, while the underside is entirely striped.

Size

Body length 26–30 cm (incl. beak 6–7 cm), wingspan 43–50 cm, body mass 140–260 g.

Similar species

Jack snipe, common snipe, Eurasian woodcock.

Distribution

It is widespread throughout Northern Eurasia’s tundra, forest, and forest-steppe zones, from Poland and Northern Ukraine to the Yenisei River; there is also a small distribution area in the Scandinavian highlands of Norway and Sweden. The region in Western and Central Siberia runs from Krasnoyarsk in the south to the Yenisei river delta in the north. Their migration paths span over the Sahara desert, with the majority wintering in equatorial Africa. It is an unevenly spread species in Estonia.

Population

Estonia has 400–600 breeding pairs.

Occurrence in Estonia

It arrives in Estonia in April and typically departs in August. In Western Estonia, individuals can still be seen in September and early October.

Diet

It feeds mostly on earthworms and, to a lesser extent, on beetle and fly larvae, leeches and bristle worms.

Habitat

It breeds in flood-meadows but also in other wet meadows (hay meadows, beach meadows, polders), fens and transition mires and occasionally in clearings.

Nesting

The great snipe’s nest hollow, buried in the tussock, is deep and lined with soft grass. In June, the female bird lays four yellowish-green-grey spotted eggs that she incubates for 22–24 days. Only the female bird cares for the chicks. After four weeks, the chicks are able to fly.

Conservation status and protection

It belongs to the protected species of category II. Historically, the drainage of wetlands, particularly river floodplains, boggy meadows and fens and, to a lesser extent, hunting, have been the primary causes of the great snipe population’s decline. In recent decades, the decline of great snipes has been attributed to the overgrowth of floodplain meadows and polders, habitat fragmentation and the use of improper meadow maintenance practices.

Distribution and population in Lääne County

The great snipe is an uncommon breeding bird on the flood-meadow of Matsalu. The national park’s nesting population consists of approximately 50 male birds. Elsewhere in Lääne County, it is a very rare breeding bird. As a strictly protected bird species, the exact breeding locations are classified.