Michele Mendi

A long-distance migrant snipe which breeds in wetlands from Scandinavia and the Baltic states to the Yenisey river in C Siberia. It winters in sub-Saharan Africa as far as Namibia and Mozambique. Males display on traditional leks.

Season of assessment

B

Population trendDecreasing
Population size
(min-max, best estimate)		104000-181000,136000
Red List categoryLC
Franks, S., Fiedler, W., Arizaga, J., Jiguet, F., Nikolov, B., van der Jeugd, Ambrosini, R, Aizpurua, O., Bairlein, F., Clark, J., Fattorini, N, Hammond, M., Higgins, D, Levering, H., Skellorn, W., Spina, F, Thorup, K. Walker, J., Woodward, I. and Baillie, S.R. (1) (2022) Online Atlas of the movements of European bird populations. https://migrationatlas.org EURING/CMS (1) Principal investigator
Map

Overall Connectivity for Great Snipe

All Great Snipe breeding in Europe move S to winter in sub-Saharan Africa, down to S Africa, possbily with longitudinal connections between breeding and wintering, although there are too few recoveries to confirm this. There are no data on age-specific differences. Most have been ringed in Poland and Sweden. Scandinavian birds stage in W sub-Saharan Africa, then turn E to reach their winter quarters in tropical Africa (Congo basin, but also further S). Geolocator studies of Swedish males show a direct spring migration from the wintering grounds to the Balkans, then short flights with short stopovers, to the breeding grounds (Lindström et al. 2016). TAutumn migration started in late Aug and was direct from Sweden to tropical Africa, moving to equatorial Africa after a stopover in the Nigerian region (Klaassen et al. 2011).

Recoveries by Condition for Great Snipe

Most recoveries are after 2000, since the development of ringing on leks, so there are many data from May and Jun, and in the N. Most recoveries are of dead birds in countries where Common Snipe are shot, while live recoveries are scarce and largely from N countries. Most recoveries are of adult birds, as most ringing effort is dedicated to breeders on lekking grounds. Most birds ringed are adult males, hence recoveries document the migration strategy of this age and sex. Recent data are mostly of recaptured birds (~88%), while dead recoveries are now fairly rare (~11%).

Annual Movements for Great Snipe

Data from geolocator studies indicate that in autumn (end Aug) Great Snipes perform long and fast non-stop flights (4,300–6,800 km in 48–96 hrs) over deserts and seas as well as wide areas of suitable habitat.  A strategy that was previously unknown among land birds (Klaassen et al. 2011, Lindström et al. 2021) and explains the rarity of  recoveries and the low reliability of those obtained in Europe in helping to understand migration strategy.

Connectivity by Month by Region for Great Snipe

The phenology of migration is unclear as there are few recoveries in Africa and recoveries along the flyways in Europe are mainly of hunted birds, which are not always obtained during active migration - e.g. late migrants or rare winterers face a higher probability of being recovered than migrants leaving Europe.

Frédéric Jiguet

References

Statistics Map
N records N individuals N recoveries
Mapped data*
Total available data
*Mapped data include only distant (>= 50 km) recoveries
References Map
Klaassen, R.H.G., Alerstam, T., Carlsson, P., Fox, J.W., Lindström, Å.2011 . Great flights by great snipes: long and fast non-stop migration over benign habitats. Proc R Soc London B 7 Link to Article (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2011.0343)
Lindström, Å., Alerstam, T., Andersson, A., Bäckman, J., Bahlenberg, P., Bom, R., Ekblom, R., Klaassen, R.H.G., Korniluk, M., Sjöberg, S., Weber, J.K.M.2021 . Extreme altitude changes between night and day during marathon flights of great snipes. Curren Biology 31 article no.: e3 Link to Article (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2021.05.047) : 3433–3439
Lindström, Å., Alerstam, T., Bahlenberg, P., Ekblom, R., Fox, J.W., Råghall, J., Klaassen, R.H.G.2016 . The migration of the great snipe Gallinago media: intriguing variations on a grand theme. Journal of Avian Biology 47: 321–334

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