The Common Snipe (Gallinago gallinago) is a superbly camouflaged wader of Swedish bogs and wet meadows, its plumage an intricate mix of warm brown, buff and black streaks and spots that render it almost invisible against the peat. A pale central crown stripe flanked by darker bands is one of the best field marks, and the extremely long, straight bill, 6 to 7 cm, tapers to a sensitive tip. Measuring 23-28 cm with a wingspan of 39-45 cm, the snipe typically reveals itself only when flushed, bursting upward in a fast zigzag with a sharp cry that makes it notoriously hard to follow.
Its most famous sound is not vocal at all: during display flights at dusk, the male dives steeply and spreads his outer tail feathers, which vibrate to produce a strange mechanical bleating that carries widely over open bogland, earning the species the Swedish folk name "sky goat". A sharp rasping call is given at flushing. Common Snipe breed across Sweden, most densely in the great mires of Norrland, with a population estimated at 100,000-200,000 pairs; most arrive in April and leave by autumn, though some overwinter at open water in the south. They probe deep into soft, wet ground for earthworms, insect larvae and other invertebrates, using a flexible bill tip that can open independently to grasp prey while the rest of the bill stays buried. The nest is a simple, well-hidden scrape on a tussock, holding four pear-shaped, olive-brown eggs incubated for 19-20 days by both parents; the precocial chicks leave the nest immediately after hatching.
Read about this species in Swedish →