Pin-tailed Snipe Gallinago stenura 針尾沙錐
Category I. Common passage migrant, mainly in autumn, and scarce winter visitor to freshwater marsh and wet agricultural fields. Numbers may have declined due to loss of rice paddy fields.
IDENTIFICATION
25-27 cm. Structurally differs from Common Snipe in having a shorter tail beyond which there is a longer projection of the toes in flight; generally duller, sandier and more uniform, it lacks a clear-cut whitish trailing edge to the secondaries. Juvenile has buff fringes to wing coverts and narrower fringes on upperparts.
Compared to Common Snipe has a fully barred underwing and usually lacks notable contrast between white cheek stripe and buff supercilium.
Very similar to Swinhoe’s Snipe differing in diagnostic pin-like outer tail feathers that are not usually visible in the field and in the number of tail feathers (minimum 24). Often appears to have a relatively shorter bill and larger eyes. However, there is considerable overlap in plumage between the two, and given the similarities (Leader and Carey 2003, 2007), most field records remain as 'either/or'. Flight call is different, with that of Pin-tailed being higher in pitch (see below).
VOCALISATIONS
The typical flight call when flushed is flatter, slightly shorter and has a more consistent quality than that of Common Snipe. Compared to Swinhoe’s Snipe the call is obviously higher in pitch and less croaky, which can occasionally resemble the quack of a duck.
DISTRIBUTION & HABITAT PREFERENCE
Previously, the preferred habitat of all snipes Gallinago in Hong Kong was paddy fields and marshes (Aymas 1930), and it is likely that the loss of the former has caused a significant decline in all Gallinago species. Most records of snipe now come from the wet agriculture and freshwater marsh area at Long Valley and the freshwater or brackish water ponds at Mai Po NR.
OCCURRENCE
Birds for which the identity has been confirmed in the hand or (rarely) in the field by examination of tail structure have occurred from 3 February to 4 May and from 29 August to 12 October. The peak month is September, though this is related at least in part to the timing of suitable trapping activity. However, this matches the observations of Aymas (1930). Figure 1 illustrates the occurrence pattern of birds identified as not being Common Snipe, as field separation of Pin-tailed and Swinhoe’s is considered typically to not be possible.
Historically, Vaughan and Jones (1913) considered that like Common Snipe, Pin-tailed Snipe occurred on migration and presumably in winter, though the latter is not explicitly stated. Extreme dates were 9 August and 12 May. Aymas (1930), based on hunting records, regarded Pin-tailed Snipe as the commonest snipe in HK, occurring from the second half of August and most numerous in September, following when numbers decline such that by December few remain. During northward migration they occurred in April.
BEHAVIOUR, FORAGING & DIET
As with all snipe here, generally seen after it is flushed from diurnal roost sites, when it may utter its distinctive call.
RANGE & SYSTEMATICS
Monotypic. Breeds from the Urals east through Siberia to the Sea of Okhotsk and south to Ussuriland and northwest Mongolia; winters from the Indian subcontinent east to south China and south through Indochina and southeast Asia to Indonesia (Van Gils et al. 2020). In China a migrant through the east and south, wintering in southeast coastal provinces including Hainan and Taiwan (Liu and Chen 2020).
CONSERVATION STATUS
IUCN: Least Concern. Population trend unknown.
Figure 1.
Aymas (1930). Local game birds. The snipe. Hong Kong Naturalist 1: 112-113. (Aymas was the pen-name of R. A. Pereira).
Leader, P. J. and G. J. Carey (2003). Identification of Pintail Snipe and Swinhoe's Snipe. British Birds 96: 178-198.
Leader, P. J. and G. J. Carey (2007). Identification and Status of Pintail Snipe Gallinago stenura and Swinhoe's Snipe G. megala in Hong Kong. Hong Kong Bird Report 2001-02: 239-247.Liu, Y. and Y. H. Chen (eds) (2020). The CNG Field Guide to the Birds of China (in Chinese). Hunan Science and Technology Publication House, Changsha.
Van Gils, J., P. Wiersma, and G. M. Kirwan (2020). Pin-tailed Snipe (Gallinago stenura), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.pitsni.01
Vaughan, R. E. and K. H. Jones (1913). The birds of Hong Kong, Macao and the West River or Si Kiang in South-East China, with special reference to their nidification and seasonal movements. Ibis 1913: 17-76, 163-201, 351-384.
