At first glance, it looks like a typical snipe: chunky body, relatively short legs, and that trademark straight, probing bill almost as long as its head. Its plumage is a beautifully busy pattern of browns, buffs, and blacks, with bold pale stripes down the back and a striped head—perfect camouflage in dead grass and sedges. In flight, it shows pointed wings and a surprisingly long tail with white outer feathers, and like other snipes, it tends to burst from cover at the last second with a harsh call and a zigzagging dash before dropping back into vegetation.
What makes Latham’s snipe especially interesting is its huge migratory circuit. It breeds in northern Japan and parts of eastern Russia, in damp forest clearings, wet meadows and boggy farmland, where pairs nest on the ground in dense vegetation. Once the breeding season is over, the birds head south across more than 6,000 km (3,728 miles) of ocean and land to spend the austral spring and summer in eastern Australia. They scatter through a network of freshwater and brackish wetlands from Queensland down through New South Wales and Victoria to Tasmania and South Australia, favouring shallow swamps, flooded paddocks, urban wetlands, and the edges of farm dams with low, thick cover. Many individuals show strong site fidelity, returning to the same little patch of marsh or urban wetland year after year.
Day-to-day life in Australia is all about feeding and staying hidden. Latham’s snipes are mostly crepuscular or nocturnal feeders, active at dawn, dusk and through the night, and spending much of the day loafing quietly in cover. They probe soft mud and damp soil with rapid, sewing-machine jabs of the bill, feeling for worms, insect larvae, small molluscs and other invertebrates. The very tip of the bill is flexible and packed with nerve endings, allowing the bird to detect prey it can’t see. When disturbed, they rely first on stillness and camouflage—crouching motionless among rushes and grasses—then flush suddenly if you come too close, giving birdwatchers only a brief, explosive view.
Distribution
Australia
China
Hong Kong
Indonesia
Japan
Korea
Marshall Islands
New Zealand
Nort. Mariana Is.
Papua New Guinea
Russia
TaiwanAnything we've missed?
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Terrestrial / Aquatic
Altricial / Precocial
Polygamous / Monogamous
Dimorphic (size) / Monomorphic
Active: Diurnal / Nocturnal
Social behavior: Solitary / Pack / Herd
Diet: Carnivore / Herbivore / Omnivore / Piscivorous / Insectivore
Migratory: Yes / No
Domesticated: Yes / No
Dangerous: Yes / No
