Common Snipe (Gallinago gallinago) - BirdLife species factsheet

Common Snipe Gallinago gallinago

Current view: Data table and detailed info

Taxonomy

Taxonomic note
Gallinago gallinago and G. delicata (del Hoyo and Collar 2014) were previously lumped as G. gallinago following Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993).

Taxonomic source(s)
del Hoyo, J., Collar, N.J., Christie, D.A., Elliott, A. and Fishpool, L.D.C. 2014. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Volume 1: Non-passerines. Lynx Edicions BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.

IUCN Red List criteria met and history

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2016	Least Concern
2014	Least Concern
2012	Not Recognised
2008	Not Recognised
2005	Not Recognised
2004	Least Concern
2000	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1994	Not Recognised
1988	Not Recognised

Species attributes

Migratory status	full migrant	Forest dependency	low
Land-mass type		Average mass	-

Distribution

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence breeding/resident (km²)	63,100,000
Extent of Occurrence non-breeding (km²)	95,000,000
Severely fragmented?	no	-

Population and trend

	Value	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Number of mature individuals	15000000-29000000	medium		2012
Population trend	decreasing		suspected	-
Generation length (years)	4.8	-	-	-

Population justification:

The total population is estimated to number over 4,000,000 individuals (Wetlands International 2006). The European population alone has recently been estimated at 2,670,000-5,060,000 pairs, which equates to 5,350,000-10,100,000 mature individuals (BirdLife International 2015). Europe forms approximately 35% of the species's global range therefore a very preliminary estimate of the species's global population size would be 15,000,000-29,000,000 mature individuals although further validation of this estimate is needed.

Trend justification: The overall population trend may be decreasing, although some populations may be stable and others have unknown trends (Wetlands International 2015). The European population is estimated to have experienced a moderate decline between 1980 and 2013 (EBCC 2015).

Country/territory distribution

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding	Non-breeding
Afghanistan	extant	native		yes
Albania	extant	native	yes		yes
Algeria	extant	native			yes
Armenia	extant	native			yes
Austria	extant	native	yes	yes
Azerbaijan	extant	native			yes
Bahrain	extant	native			yes
Bangladesh	extant	native			yes
Belarus	extant	native		yes
Belgium	extant	native	yes		yes
Benin	extant	native			yes
Bhutan	extant	native			yes
Bosnia and Herzegovina	extant	native			yes
Brunei	extant	native			yes
Bulgaria	extant	native			yes
Burkina Faso	extant	native			yes
Burundi	extant	native			yes
Cambodia	extant	native			yes
Cameroon	extant	native			yes
Cape Verde	extant	vagrant
Central African Republic	extant	native			yes
Chad	extant	native			yes
China (mainland)	extant	native		yes	yes
Congo	extant	native			yes
Congo, The Democratic Republic of the	extant	native			yes
Côte d'Ivoire	extant	native			yes
Croatia	extant	native		yes	yes
Cyprus	extant	native			yes
Czechia	extant	native		yes
Denmark	extant	native	yes
Djibouti	extant	native			yes
Egypt	extant	native			yes
Eritrea	extant	native			yes
Estonia	extant	native		yes
Ethiopia	extant	native			yes
Faroe Islands (to Denmark)	extant	native		yes
Finland	extant	native		yes
France	extant	native	yes		yes
Gabon	extant	native			yes
Gambia	extant	native			yes
Georgia	extant	native			yes
Germany	extant	native	yes	yes	yes
Ghana	extant	native			yes
Gibraltar (to UK)	extant	native			yes
Greece	extant	native			yes
Greenland (to Denmark)	presence uncertain	uncertain
Guinea	extant	native			yes
Guinea-Bissau	extant	native			yes
Hong Kong (China)	extant	native			yes
Hungary	extant	native	yes	yes
Iceland	extant	native	yes	yes
India	extant	native			yes
Indonesia	extant	native			yes
Iran, Islamic Republic of	extant	native			yes
Iraq	extant	native			yes
Ireland	extant	native	yes		yes
Israel	extant	native			yes
Italy	extant	native			yes
Japan	extant	native			yes
Jordan	extant	native			yes
Kazakhstan	extant	native		yes
Kenya	extant	native			yes
Kuwait	extant	native			yes
Kyrgyzstan	extant	native		yes
Laos	extant	native			yes
Latvia	extant	native		yes
Lebanon	extant	native			yes
Liberia	extant	native			yes
Libya	extant	native			yes
Liechtenstein	extant	native		yes
Lithuania	extant	native		yes
Luxembourg	extant	native		yes	yes
Malawi	extant	native			yes
Malaysia	extant	native			yes
Mali	extant	native			yes
Malta	extant	native			yes
Mauritania	extant	native			yes
Moldova	extant	native		yes
Mongolia	extant	native		yes
Montenegro	extant	native			yes
Morocco	extant	native			yes
Myanmar	extant	native			yes
Nepal	extant	native			yes
Netherlands	extant	native	yes		yes
Niger	extant	native			yes
Nigeria	extant	native			yes
North Macedonia	extant	native			yes
Northern Mariana Islands (to USA)	extant	vagrant
Norway	extant	native	yes	yes
Oman	extant	native			yes
Pakistan	extant	native			yes
Philippines	extant	native			yes
Poland	extant	native		yes
Portugal	extant	native	yes		yes
Romania	extant	native		yes
Russia	extant	native	yes
Russia (Asian)	extant	native		yes
Russia (European)	extant	native		yes
Rwanda	extant	native			yes
Saudi Arabia	extant	native			yes
Senegal	extant	native			yes
Serbia	extant	native		yes	yes
Seychelles	extant	vagrant
Sierra Leone	extant	native			yes
Singapore	presence uncertain	uncertain
Slovakia	extant	native	yes	yes
Slovenia	extant	native		yes	yes
Somalia	extant	native			yes
Spain	extant	native	yes		yes
Sri Lanka	extant	native			yes
Sudan	extant	native			yes
Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands (to Norway)	extant	vagrant
Sweden	extant	native		yes
Switzerland	extant	native	yes	yes	yes
Syria	extant	native			yes
Taiwan, China	extant	native			yes
Tajikistan	extant	native		yes
Tanzania	extant	native			yes
Thailand	extant	native			yes
Togo	extant	native			yes
Tunisia	extant	native			yes
Türkiye	extant	native			yes
Uganda	extant	native			yes
Ukraine	extant	native	yes		yes
United Arab Emirates	extant	native			yes
United Kingdom	extant	native	yes	yes	yes
United States Minor Outlying Islands (to USA)	extant	vagrant
Uzbekistan	extant	native		yes
Vietnam	extant	native			yes
Yemen	extant	native			yes
Zambia	extant	native			yes

Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBA)

Country/Territory	IBA Name
Iceland	Osasvædi Olfusar
Russia (Central Asian)	Lower Ob'
Russia (Central Asian)	Dvuob'ye

Habitats & altitude

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Aquatic & Marine	Artificial/Aquatic - Ponds (below 8ha)	suitable	non-breeding
Artificial/Aquatic & Marine	Artificial/Aquatic - Seasonally Flooded Agricultural Land	suitable	non-breeding
Artificial/Aquatic & Marine	Artificial/Aquatic - Water Storage Areas (over 8ha)	suitable	non-breeding
Forest	Boreal	suitable	breeding
Grassland	Subtropical/Tropical Seasonally Wet/Flooded	suitable	non-breeding
Marine Neritic	Estuaries	suitable	non-breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Bogs, Marshes, Swamps, Fens, Peatlands	suitable	resident
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Freshwater Lakes (over 8ha)	suitable	resident
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Freshwater Marshes/Pools (under 8ha)	suitable	resident
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Rivers/Streams/Creeks (includes waterfalls)	suitable	resident
Wetlands (inland)	Tundra Wetlands (incl. pools and temporary waters from snowmelt)	suitable	breeding
Altitude		Occasional altitudinal limits

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2023) Species factsheet: Gallinago gallinago. Downloaded from http://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/common-snipe-gallinago-gallinago on 05/10/2023. Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2023) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from http://datazone.birdlife.org on 05/10/2023.