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A snipe is any of nearly 20 wading
Wader

Waders, called shorebirds in North America , are members of the order Charadriiformes, excluding the more marine web-footed seabird groups....
 bird species in three genera
Genus

A genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The taxonomic ranks are domain , kingdom , phylum, class , order , family , genus, and species....
 in the family
Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is a taxonomic rank. Exact details of formal nomenclature depend on the Nomenclature Codes which applies....
 Scolopacidae
Scolopacidae

The Scolopacidae are a large family of waders, . Many of the smaller species are often called "sandpipers", especially members of genera Calidris, Tringa and Actitis....
. They are characterised by a very long slender bill and cryptic plumage
Plumage

Plumage refers both to the layer of feathers that cover a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage vary between species and subspecies and can also vary between different age classes, sexes, and season....
. The Gallinago
Gallinago

Gallinago is a genus of birds in the wader family Scolopacidae. These snipe are all similar, with a very long slender bill and cryptic plumage....
 snipes have a nearly worldwide distribution, the Lymnocryptes
Jack Snipe

The Jack Snipe, Lymnocryptes minimus is a small stocky wader. It is the smallest snipe, and the only one in the genus Lymnocryptes which is quite distinct from other snipes or woodcocks ....
 Jack Snipe is restricted to Asia
Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area and, with over 4 billion people, it contains more than 60% of the world's current human population....
 and Europe
Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
 and the Coenocorypha
Coenocorypha

Coenocorypha is a genus of tiny birds, also known as the New Zealand snipes, which are found in the New Zealand Outlying Islands. There are currently two widely accepted extant species, two extinct species and several subspecies, but the taxonomy of the genus is currently under debate and these subspecies have been raised to full sp...
 snipes are found only in New Zealand
New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous Islands of New Zealand, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands....
. The three species of painted snipe
Painted snipe

Painted snipes are three distinctive wader species in the Family Rostratulidae. The family is composed to two genera, Rostratula and Nycticryphes....
 are not closely related to the typical snipes, and are placed in their own family, the Rostratulidae.

snipe make up part of the wader
Wader

Waders, called shorebirds in North America , are members of the order Charadriiformes, excluding the more marine web-footed seabird groups....
 family Scolopacidae
Scolopacidae

The Scolopacidae are a large family of waders, . Many of the smaller species are often called "sandpipers", especially members of genera Calidris, Tringa and Actitis....
.






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A snipe is any of nearly 20 wading
Wader

Waders, called shorebirds in North America , are members of the order Charadriiformes, excluding the more marine web-footed seabird groups....
 bird species in three genera
Genus

A genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The taxonomic ranks are domain , kingdom , phylum, class , order , family , genus, and species....
 in the family
Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is a taxonomic rank. Exact details of formal nomenclature depend on the Nomenclature Codes which applies....
 Scolopacidae
Scolopacidae

The Scolopacidae are a large family of waders, . Many of the smaller species are often called "sandpipers", especially members of genera Calidris, Tringa and Actitis....
. They are characterised by a very long slender bill and cryptic plumage
Plumage

Plumage refers both to the layer of feathers that cover a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage vary between species and subspecies and can also vary between different age classes, sexes, and season....
. The Gallinago
Gallinago

Gallinago is a genus of birds in the wader family Scolopacidae. These snipe are all similar, with a very long slender bill and cryptic plumage....
 snipes have a nearly worldwide distribution, the Lymnocryptes
Jack Snipe

The Jack Snipe, Lymnocryptes minimus is a small stocky wader. It is the smallest snipe, and the only one in the genus Lymnocryptes which is quite distinct from other snipes or woodcocks ....
 Jack Snipe is restricted to Asia
Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area and, with over 4 billion people, it contains more than 60% of the world's current human population....
 and Europe
Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
 and the Coenocorypha
Coenocorypha

Coenocorypha is a genus of tiny birds, also known as the New Zealand snipes, which are found in the New Zealand Outlying Islands. There are currently two widely accepted extant species, two extinct species and several subspecies, but the taxonomy of the genus is currently under debate and these subspecies have been raised to full sp...
 snipes are found only in New Zealand
New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous Islands of New Zealand, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands....
. The three species of painted snipe
Painted snipe

Painted snipes are three distinctive wader species in the Family Rostratulidae. The family is composed to two genera, Rostratula and Nycticryphes....
 are not closely related to the typical snipes, and are placed in their own family, the Rostratulidae.

Taxonomy

The snipe make up part of the wader
Wader

Waders, called shorebirds in North America , are members of the order Charadriiformes, excluding the more marine web-footed seabird groups....
 family Scolopacidae
Scolopacidae

The Scolopacidae are a large family of waders, . Many of the smaller species are often called "sandpipers", especially members of genera Calidris, Tringa and Actitis....
. The 15 typical snipes in the genus Gallinago are the closest relatives of the woodcock
Woodcock

The woodcocks are a group of seven extant very similar wader bird species in the genus Scolopax, characterised by a long slender bill and cryptic brown and blackish plumage....
s, whereas the small genera Coenocorypha (the New Zealand snipes) and Lymnocryptes represent earlier divergences in the snipe/woodcock clade
Clade

A clade is a term used in modern alpha taxonomy, the scientific classification of living and fossil organisms, to describe a monophyletic group, defined as a group consisting of a single common ancestor and all its descendants.The term "monophyletic group" is used in this article in the conventional sense of "an a...


Behavior

Snipe search for invertebrate
Invertebrate

An invertebrate is an animal lacking a vertebral column. The group includes 98% of all animal species ? all animals except those in the Chordate subphylum vertebrate ....
s in the mud with a "sewing-machine" action of their long bills. Most have distinctive displays, usually given at dawn or dusk.

The difficulties involved in hunting snipe gave rise to "sniper
Sniper

A sniper is usually a highly trained marksman that shoots targets from Concealment positions or distances exceeding the capabilities of regular personnel....
," referring to a skilled anti-personnel military sharpshooter.

Genera

  • Coenocorypha
    Coenocorypha

    Coenocorypha is a genus of tiny birds, also known as the New Zealand snipes, which are found in the New Zealand Outlying Islands. There are currently two widely accepted extant species, two extinct species and several subspecies, but the taxonomy of the genus is currently under debate and these subspecies have been raised to full sp...
  • Lymnocryptes
    Jack Snipe

    The Jack Snipe, Lymnocryptes minimus is a small stocky wader. It is the smallest snipe, and the only one in the genus Lymnocryptes which is quite distinct from other snipes or woodcocks ....
  • Gallinago
    Gallinago

    Gallinago is a genus of birds in the wader family Scolopacidae. These snipe are all similar, with a very long slender bill and cryptic plumage....


See also

  • Snipe hunt
    Snipe hunt

    A snipe hunt, a form of wild goose chase that is also known as a fool's errand, is one of a class of practical jokes that involves experienced people making fun of newcomers by giving them an impossible or imaginary task....


Footnotes



External links

  • on the Internet Bird Collection