The Great Snipe (Gallinago media) measures about 27–30 cm, somewhat larger, heavier and more compact than the Common Snipe, with a proportionally shorter bill. The most reliable field mark shows in flight: broad, clearly white corners to the tail and three pale bars across the upperwing, while the underside is more extensively and heavily barred right across the breast and belly, unlike the Common Snipe's plain white mid-belly. When flushed it rises straight and heavy, without the zigzag escape flight typical of its smaller relative.
At its traditional lek, groups of five to fifteen males gather at dawn and dusk to perform a bubbling, clicking and whirring chorus, one of the most distinctive and legendary sounds of the Swedish mires; unlike the Common Snipe, it stays silent when flushed. It is one of Sweden's most threatened breeding birds, red-listed as Endangered (EN), now confined mainly to Jämtland, Västerbotten, Norrbotten and Lappland after a sharp decline and range contraction from what was once the whole of Norrland and parts of Svealand, driven by drainage and development of mire habitat as well as deteriorating conditions along the migration route. A long-distance migrant, it arrives in May, leks through May and June, and leaves already in August, bound for Africa. Males take no part in nesting duties; the female places her nest well hidden on the ground among grass and tussocks and lays 3–4 eggs, raising a single brood in the short northern summer. It feeds on damp ground on earthworms, insect larvae, small crustaceans, snails and other small invertebrates, probed up with its sensitive bill tip.
Read about this species in Swedish →