Pin-tailed Snipe
This bird photographed in Thailand it could be either a Spießbekassine, as well as a Waldbekassine. Since the tail is not spread, a determination based on the photos is not safe to do.
The Spießbekassine ( Gallinago stenura ), also called Stiftbekassine, is a Siberian species of the family of the Waders. We distinguish between no subspecies.
Description
The Spießbekassine reaches a body length of 25 to 27 centimeters. In size it corresponds to the spread in Europe snipe, has, however, compared with this, a slightly shorter beak with a narrower tip. The wingspan of the Spießbekassine is 44 to 48 centimeters. The weight varies 85-125 grams. The body bottom is dark and the tail is shorter.
The body top of Spießbekassine is brown with a fine, wavy drawing and pale rahmfarbenen stripes. The wing coverts are dark brown with beige lace spots. Most individuals 26 tail feathers, of which the outer eight pairs are pin or skewer -shaped with a width of only one to two millimeters. [ C1 ]
Startled birds call quietly and abruptly Rätsch or rough squik or Squok. During the Balzrepertoire belonging swoop call the male short and metallic Cheka Cheka Cheka.
Distribution and population
The Spießbekassine is a predominantly Asian style that breeds in Siberia east of the Kolyma Delta and occurs up to the Lena Delta. To the south direction of propagation it is currently in northern Mongolia. To the west it reaches the extreme north- east of Europe and breeds west of the Pechora in the forest zone. The wintering areas include the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia from southern China and the Philippines to Sumatra and Java. A small number of Spießbekassinen wintered on the Arabian Peninsula and in northeast Africa. [ D 1] Wetlands International divides the total population into two groups. The western group of breeds from northeastern Europe to central Siberia and winters in South Asia and in smaller numbers on the Arabian Peninsula and in northeast Africa. The second group, which breeds from central Siberia to the Sea of Okhotsk, wintering mainly in Southeast Asia. Stock figures are very difficult as all Waders to be determined. The western population group is estimated by Wetlands International on 25000-1000000 individuals. Of these, about 1510-6600 breeding pairs in northeastern Europe before. [ D 2] In the wintering areas in southern Asia Spießbekassinen are very common, the population trends are not sufficiently investigated. [ D 2]
Habitat
The habitat of Spießbekassine are the forested regions of Siberia. The species breeds in grassy marshes, wet meadows in river valleys and peat bogs and in the planted with dwarf birch shrubs mountain tundra. From the snipe, the Spießbekassine differs by favoring drier habitats. In the wintering sites and on the train, the Spießbekassine marshy ponds and rice fields holding on, but preferably also during this time less humid habitats than the common snipe. [ C1 ]
Way of life
The food of Spießbekassine consists mainly of invertebrates. Here, insects and their larvae, mollusks and earthworms play a special role. In addition, she also eats seeds and other vegetable diet you peck their food mainly from the soil surface, but they will also poking, where she locates prey in the soft mud with the sensitive and flexible beak and take. [ C1 ]
The males show immediately upon arrival in the breeding areas a Gemeinschaftsbalz, may be involved in up to 15 males. The nest is on the ground and is usually built in dense vegetation. The flat nest hollow is it lined with grasses. The nest usually consists of four eggs. These are incubated for twenty days. [C 2 ]