Puna snipe
| Puna snipe | |
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| Species: | G. andina
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| Binomial name | |
| Gallinago andina (Taczanowski, 1875)
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The puna snipe (Gallinago andina) is a small, stocky wader. It breeds in the Andes of northern Peru to northwestern Argentina and northern Chile. It is sometimes considered conspecific with the South American snipe.
Description
This 30–32 cm long snipe has a stocky body and relatively short legs for a wader. Its upperparts, head and neck are streaked and patterned with warm brown and buff, and the gold edges to the feathers form lines down its back. It shows pale to whitish underwings when in flight. The belly is white with brown barring. The horn-colored bill is long, straight and fairly robust. The legs and feet are yellow. The sexes are similar, and immatures differ only in showing pale fringes on the wing coverts.
Subspecies
There are two subspecies of the puna snipe:
- G. a. andina, (Taczanowski, 1875), Peru to northwest Argentina
- G. a. innotata, (Hellmayr, 1932), northern Chile
Behaviour
Little is known of its behaviour, but it has an aerial display, which involves flying high in circles, followed by a dive during which the bird makes a drumming sound, caused by vibrations of its modified outer tail feathers.
The puna snipe forages by pushing its long bill deep into the mud seeking insects and worms. Its cryptic plumage provides effective camouflage when the bird stands motionless amongst marsh vegetation.