Description:

Largest of Palearctic snipes; large and heavy, with rather long bill; plumage somewhat variable. Colder-coloured and less boldly marked than Common Snipe, with less striking head pattern, white spotting on ginger-brown breast, and fine white mantle and scapular stripes. Has fine white trailing edge to wing, and underwing is heavily barred.

Distribution:

Rare winter visitor central and western Gilgit-Baltistan, along Gilgit River in Ghizer, Gilgit and Skardu. Usually found near wetlands, damp meadows, mountain bogs, boggy areas and grasslands. Almost exclusively found at high altitudes, 1500-5000m.

Behavior:

Feeds by probing in wet grass and mud. Moves body rhythmically up and down when probing in mud; also pecks prey items from surface. Feeds solitarily. Diet includes adult and larval insects, annelids, small freshwater and terrestrial gastropods and sometimes seeds or other plant material.

Photo Gallery:

Range & Occurrence:

Resident Species

Summer Breeder

Winter Visitor

Passage Migrant

Distribution Map of Solitary Snipe in Gilgit-Baltistan (Status: )

Seasonal Occurrence of Solitary Snipe

Resources:

Birds of Pakistan: Helm Field Guides (R. Grimmett & T. Inskipp)
The Birds of Pakistan (T. J. Roberts)
Birds of the Indian Subcontinent (C. Inskipp, R. Grimmett & T. Inskipp)
Birds of South Asia: The Ripley Guide (P. Rasmussen & J. Anderton)
Birds of India: Collins Field Guide (N. Arlott)
Handbook of the Birds of India and Pakistan (S. Ali & S. D. Ripley)
Handbook of the Birds of the World (https://www.hbw.com)
The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World, 6th Edition
iNaturalist BoGB (inaturalist.org/projects/birds-of-gilgit-baltistan)
Birds of Gilgit-Baltistan (http://fb.me/birdsgb)

*Gallery images on this page are shared from flickr.com, and are copyrighted to their respective creators or owners.