Common Snipe

Gallinago gallinago

Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Scolopacidae
Presence in the Strait: Seasonal
Abundance: common
IUCN (global): LC · Least concern
In Spanish: Agachadiza común

Photograph: Hobbyfotowiki, CC0, vía Wikimedia Commons

Length: 25–27 cm
Wingspan: 37–43 cm
Weight: 110 g

Presence in the Strait

Common winter visitor to wet regions.

Identification

Brownish-grey bird with a long bill, pale supercilium and dark loral stripe. Extremely timid. When flushed, flies in zigzag and emits a rasping call. Feeds in boggy areas.

Movements

Peaks in 1st hf. March and 2nd hf. October.

Ring recoveries

Germany (3), France (2), Czech Republic (2), Belgium (1), Denmark (1), Poland (1), United Kingdom (1), Sweden (1) and Spain (1).

Bioestrecho editorial text. Last revised: 8 September 2026.

Photographs from iNaturalist observations with the licence checked file by file. Those marked “Strait” were taken within the area; place and date are those of each observation.

Calendar in the Strait

26 %

Peak in December. Observations under CC0 or CC BY licences. The distribution also reflects observation effort.

Where it is seen

Open records from the atlas database, in cells of about 3.6 km. Opacity follows the square root of the count, and also reflects where people observe most.

See on the map

First open record: 1 January 1967
Latest record: 30 December 2024

The oldest and the most recent open observation in the extended area. A recent first observation does not mean the species is new: it means nobody had published it openly before.

Conservation

The catalogues, Andalusian and Spanish, are what binds; the Red Book assesses the Spanish population with IUCN criteria, and the global Red List is the context.

LCNTVUENCR

Andalusian Catalogue: Not included
Spanish Catalogue: Not included
Red Book of the Birds of Spain 2021: EN · Endangered · breeding — LC · Least concern · wintering or migrating
Global Red List (IUCN): LC · Least concern

Andalusian Catalogue: Junta de Andalucía, list of 24 April 2025. Spanish Catalogue: MITECO, table of 30 June 2025. Red Book: SEO/BirdLife, 2021 (Annex I). IUCN: via GBIF, 6 September 2026. Red Book and IUCN categories are assessments; catalogue categories are legal obligations.

Phenology compared

Monthly distribution in proportion, by decade. It shows whether the passage is getting earlier or later.

2000–2009

2010–2026

Proportions, not totals: observation effort grew faster than any population.

Where they come from

13 birds ringed in other countries and recovered in the area.

Germany3
France2
Czech Republic2
Belgium1
Denmark1
Poland1

See the journey on the map

Classification

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Scolopacidae
GBIF taxon key: 2481819

Sources

Distribution and calendar: Bioestrecho's own database, ingested from GBIF and OBIS
Photograph: Hobbyfotowiki, CC0, vía Wikimedia Commons
Taxonomy: GBIF backbone, pending WoRMS for marine taxa
Editorial text: written by Bioestrecho
Last revised: 8 September 2026

Common Snipe

Presence in the Strait

Identification

Movements

Ring recoveries

Gallery