6-12-2017 ALBUFERA, VALENCIA - COMMON SNIPE (Gallinago gallinago)

Common snipes (Gallinago gallinago) are small, stocky waders native to the Old World. These birds are known for their courtship display in which males produce a sound that reminds the bleating of a sheep or goat; hence in many languages the Common snipe is known by names signifying "flying goat", "heaven's ram", "heather-bleater" in Scotland and in Finnish the name taivaanvuohi, "sky goat".

Common snipes have short greenish-grey legs and a very long (5.5-7 cm (2.2-2.8 in)) straight dark bill. The body is mottled brown with straw-yellow stripes on top and pale underneath. They have a dark stripe through the eye, with light stripes above and below it. Their wings are pointed.

Common snipes are found throughout the Palearctic. In the north, the distribution limit extends from Iceland over the north of the British Isles and northern Fennoscandia, as well as through European Russia and Siberia. In the east, it extends to the Anadyr, Kamchatka, the Bering Island, and the Kuril Islands. In Europe, the distribution area runs through northern Portugal, central France, northern Italy, Bulgaria, and Ukraine. In Asia, it extends south to northern Turkestan, locally to Afghanistan and the Middle East, through the Altai, and further to Manchuria and Ussuri. Common snipes are mostly migratory; European birds winter in southern and western Europe and Africa (south to the Equator), and Asian migrants move to tropical southern Asia. These birds prefer to live near marshes, bogs, in the tundra, taiga, grassy edges of lakes and rivers, estuaries, ponds, rice fields, and wet meadows.

Common snipes are social birds that usually forage in small groups and may gather in flocks of up to 500 individuals at rich feeding grounds. They feed at dawn and dusk wading in soft mud, probing or picking up food by sight. These are shy birds that conceal themselves close to ground vegetation and flush only when approached closely. When flushed, they utter a sharp note that sounds like scape and fly off in a series of aerial zig-zags to confuse predators.

Common snipes are monogamous and form pairs. In order to attract the female, males perform "winnowing" courtship display; they fly high in circles and then take shallow dives to produce a "drumming" sound by vibrating their tail feathers. After the pair was formed, the birds nest in a well-hidden location on the ground, laying 4 eggs of a dark olive color, blotched and spotted with a rich brown. The eggs are incubated by the female for 18-21 days. The freshly hatched chicks are helpless and covered in dark maroon down, variegated with black, white, and buff. They are cared for by both parents and each parent looks after half the brood. The young start to fly when they are between 10 and 20 days old.