Pin-tailed Snipe

How to identify

Field marks

1. Bill long, straight and dark; legs and feet short and greenish-gray
2. Dark eyestripe with one pale stripe above and one below
3. Upperparts mottled rufous; creamy-white stripes on the back
4. Breast rufous-yellow with stripes; belly white

Male, female and young

Sexes similar; immature differs only slightly in plumage details.

Voice

Usually a faint “squik”; male gives a loud, repeated “tcheka” during display.

Similar species

Common Snipe

Common Snipe has a longer bill and tail; Pin-tailed Snipe has blunter wingtips, lacks a white trailing edge to the wing and flies more directly when flushed.

Where and when it's recorded

Pin-tailed Snipe has been recorded at 557 of the 8,171 birding hotspots we track, in 33 countries and regions.

Records by month Northern Hemisphere

Where it's recorded most

1. Private estate near Green MubazzarahUnited Arab Emirates1,544 records
2. Bundala NPSri Lanka475 records
3. Pangkalan KerinciIndonesia429 records

Countries and regions with the most records

IndiaUnited Arab EmiratesThailandSri LankaCambodiaChinaNepalIndonesia

eBird records via GBIF up to 2024-12-31. A record means someone listed it; more records partly mean more birders, not more birds.

Questions