Data Zone
Justification of Red List category
This species was recently impacted heavily by extreme drought in Australia which caused a reduction in its population size thought to have approached 30%. For this reason it is assessed as Near Threatened.
Population justification
In May 2020, an island-wide survey based on counts of displaying males at a stratified sample of sites estimated a population of 20,300 mature individuals on Hokkaido (Ura and Tajiri 2020). An additional 3,400-11,000 mature individuals are estimated to occur on Sakhalin (Hansen et al. 2020a) with much smaller numbers on Honshu. Another estimate, applying a trend correction to previous data, suggested a total population of 35,000 mature individuals (Hansen et al. 2022). To account for these uncertainties, the population is therefore estimated to number 20,000-39,000 mature individuals.
Trend justification
The population was previously suspected to be declining, but not at a rate that exceeded or approached the thresholds for listing as threatened; however, recent data indicate a sudden population reduction in Japan between 2018 and 2020. Based on counts of displaying males at a stratified sample of sites, an estimated 42% reduction (from 35,000 to 20,300 mature individuals) on Hokkaido (where the majority of the world population breeds) occurred between 2018 (Ura et al. 2018) and 2020 (Ura and Tajiri 2020). There is high confidence in the 2018 population size, which was similar to an estimate made in 1986 (Naarding 1986), and in the 2020 survey data, which mirrored the methodology of that in 2018. In total, 116 sites (of the 588 sites surveyed in 2018) on Hokkaido were surveyed in 2020; there was considerable spatial variation in the declines observed at each locality (trend in parentheses): Sarobetsu (-71%), eastern Soya (-27%), Yufutsu Plain (-39%), Tsurui (-90%), and Nemuro (-28%) (Ura and Tajiri 2020). The principal cause of this reduction has been attributed to extreme drought in Australia, where 50-90% (70% best estimate) of the world population winters (Hansen et al. 2020a).
However, annual monitoring of c.150 sites in Australia up to November 2021 did not reflect these declines (B. Hansen in litt. 2022) despite Hansen et al. (2020a) suggesting Australian drought as a possible hypothesis for the species' sudden decline in Japan. Moreover, in Sakhalin, the number of Latham's Snipe has remained stable; although numbers dropped slightly in 2020, these had recovered by 2021 and the overall trend over the past three generations is thought to have been stable (P. Ktitorov in litt. 2022). Evaluating and weighting these trends, it is precautionarily suspected that the population declined by 20-29% over the past three generations. Given the threat and cause of this is unexplained and there appears to be inconsistencies, it is unclear whether the decline is continuing or likely to occur in the future.
Latham's Snipe breed in Hokkaido and highland areas of Honshu in Japan, and in Sakhalin and the nearby Kuril Islands of far eastern Russia, where the breeding range has been increasing (Nechaev 1994, RDBSO 2016, Hansen et al. 2020b, P. Ktitorov in litt. 2022). During southward migration, most birds pass through New Guinea and north-eastern Australia to reach south-eastern Australia, including Tasmania (Weller et al. 2019). A vagrant to numerous other areas including Indonesia, New Zealand, and Republic of Korea. Arrival times in mid-August in New South Wales have remained unchanged for 170 years (Wilson et al. 2017). On the northward migration, at least some birds fatten in north Australian grasslands (Garnett and Shephard 1997).
In the breeding season the species is found in farmland, such as meadows, pastures, fallow fields, and areas of firing and reafforestation, from coast up to 1,400 m; as well as natural grassland, hillock bogs and river valleys with low herbaceous cover (Van Gils et al. 2020). Within Australia, Latham's Snipe are generally widely dispersed in low numbers, but occasionally occur in larger groups. They occur in permanent and ephemeral wetlands with dense but heterogeneous vegetative cover, as well as saline or brackish water and modified or artificial habitats including farmland. They feed mostly on invertebrates, but also seeds and other plant material. Aggregations of up to 150 individuals shelter during the day in some small Australian wetlands, including urban water bodies, where there is adequate shallowly flooded or inundated substrate, and disperse after dark to forage over larger areas (Hansen et al. 2020a).
The threats to this species are largely unknown and untested. The decline in Japan has by some been attributed to losses in Australia as a result of extreme drought and large-scale fire in alpine grasslands in 2019 and 2010 (Ura and Tajiri 2020). The current threats in Australia are drainage, water diversion and urban development, although the species readily occupies artificial and ephemeral swamps (Higgins and Davies 1996). Over the longer-term, drought caused by climate change is likely to be a strong driving factor. Grasslands on Cape York Peninsula used during transit north (Garnett and Shephard 1997) are slowly being occluded by trees (Crowley and Garnett 1998), but not at a rate that currently threatens the species. Until the mid-1980s, hunting in the freshwater swamps in southern Australia was responsible for the deaths of up to 10,000 Latham's Snipe each year (Naarding 1986). In Japan, there have been declines where agricultural grasslands have been abandoned and colonised by trees or replaced by urban development and agricultural intensification (Ura et al. 2017). In Russia, snipes are likely to be subject to hunting, but the scale is thought to be limited (Gallo-Cajiao et al. 2020, B. Oleg in litt. 2022, P. Ktitorov in litt. 2022).
Conservation Actions Underway
There is protection of some important habitat along the flyway. There has been creation of vegetated shelter areas and protection of these from disturbance.
Conservation Actions Proposed
In Australia, determine the effects of drought and fire on snipe, understand movement ecology and identify core habitats. Assess alpine and highland populations in Australia and New Guinea. Identify and protect nationally important sites in Australia. Identify important staging sites for snipe and work with governments and site managers to retain these. Amend state and local planning laws to explicitly recognise snipe and their habitat.
Text account compilers
Berryman, A.
Contributors
Hansen, B., Ktitorov, P. & Oleg, B.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Latham's Snipe Gallinago hardwickii. Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/lathams-snipe-gallinago-hardwickii on 23/12/2024.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2024) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 23/12/2024.