Family:
Wilson’s snipe is named after the American ornithologist. It is a medium-sized, pudgy shorebird with short, stocky legs that was considered a subspecies of the common snipe until 2003.
They upperparts are mottled buff and brown with stripes and bars with 3 long buff streaks down the back, while the underparts are paler. The head is striped with a dark stripe through the eye and lighter stripes above and below it. The dark bill is long and straight, and the legs are dull green coloured. Males and females look similar.
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Wilson’s snipe eat insects, earthworms, and plant matter. They forage in soft mud, picking food by sight.
In breeding season, Wilson’s snipe are found in Canada, the northern United States, and on the Chukchi Peninsula in Russia. They inhabit marshes, bogs, tundra, and wet meadows with thick, low vegetation. They migrate to the southern United States, the Caribbean, and northern South America, and are year round residents on the US Pacific Coast.
