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Greater painted-snipe

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Greater painted-snipe
Male on water
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Rostratulidae
Genus: Rostratula
Species:
R. benghalensis
Binomial name
Rostratula benghalensis
Distribution
Synonyms
  • Rallus benghalensis Linnaeus, 1758
  • Scolopax capensis Linnaeus, 1766

The greater painted-snipe (Rostratula benghalensis) is a species of wader in the family Rostratulidae. They are widely distributed across Africa and southern Asia. The birds are found in a variety of wetland habitats, including swamps and the edges of larger water bodies such as lakes and rivers.

Taxonomy

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The greater painted-snipe was formally described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae. He placed it with the rails in the genus Rallus and coined the binomial name Rallus benghalenis.[2][3] Linnaeus based his account on the "Bengall water rail" that had been described and illustrated in 1738 by the English naturalist Eleazar Albin in his A Natural History of Birds. Albin had examined a drawing that had been sent to the English silk-pattern designer Joseph Dandridge from Bengal.[4] The greater painted-snipe is now placed with the Australian painted-snipe in the genus Rostratula that was introduced in 1816 by the French ornithologist Louis Vieillot. The species is treated as monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.[5]

The Australian painted-snipe (Rostratula australis) was formerly treated as a subspecies.[6]

Description

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The female on the left is more colourful.

The greater painted-snipe is a medium-sized shorebird found in wetland habitats.[7] The birds display sexual dimorphism: females of the species are larger, heavier, and have bolder plumage than the males (see image, left). The female has "dark bronze green upperparts", and an area of castaneous feathers that extends from the lower head area to the chest. It also have a large white eyepatch. By contrast, the male is largely mottled grey and brown, with buff-coloured upper parts. This gives it very effective camouflage when it is on the nest.[8]

It is not a vocal species; apart from the breeding season, it is mostly silent. The female may make a "mellow hooting or booming" sound.[8]

Distribution and habitat

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Greater painted-snipe are very widely distributed; in mainland Africa as well as Madagascar and the Seychelles; in India, and Southeast Asia.[8][9] Within Africa, they are found in the Nile River Valley and in the non-rainforested areas of Sub-Saharan Africa. They are notably absent from the eastern portion of Somalia, from the desert areas of Namibia, and from parts of Botswana and South Africa.[10] Despite their wide distribution, they are uncommon within their range.[10] There are between 31,000 and 1,000,000 mature individuals alive, according to BirdLife International.[11]

Although this species inhabits a variety of wetland habitats, it prefers muddy areas with available cover (i.e., vegetation). It is also found on the edges of lakes and rivers, provided there is cover nearby, and in marshes and around swamps.[10] They are usually found close to the fringes of reed beds along shorelines of marshes, swamps, ponds and streams.

Behaviour

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Greater painted-snipe usually live solitarily or in pairs, but sometimes are found in large groups. They are rather shy and retiring, skulking close to the vegetation so that they can retreat to cover if disturbed. When flushed, the birds like rails, with their legs dangling.[10]

Food and feeding

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Feeds on insects, snails, earthworms and crustacea as well as vegetable matter such as plant seeds. Uses scythe-like action of the head and bill in shallow water. They are generally crepuscular, feeding in the early morning and near dusk.[12]

Breeding

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Greater painted-snipe are almost always polyandrous. The female initiates courtship and usually mates with two males in a season, but may mate with up to four. Males of the species incubate the eggs and give parental care.[8] The females court the males, are polyandrous[13][14] with males incubating and raising the young. Chicks are buff coloured and have black stripes running along their length.[15] Immature birds resemble the male but lack the broken dark band across the breast. Males are also known to carry the chicks to safety under the wings.[citation needed]

The birds are almost always polyandrous, but they may act monogamously in regions where their population density is especially low, such as in South Africa.[8]

The nest is usually a shallow scrape in soft ground, lined with plant material and situated among grass or reeds at the water's edge; sometimes a pad of vegetation or a nest of grass and weeds. The breeding season is between April and July.[citation needed]

Conservation status

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The greater painted-snipe is as "Least Concern" by the IUCN, due to its large range and the relatively slow rate of population decrease.[11]

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References

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  1. ^ BirdLife International (2016). "Rostratula benghalensis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016: e.T22735810A95118332. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22735810A95118332.en. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  2. ^ Linnaeus, Carl (1758). Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (in Latin). Vol. 1 (10th ed.). Holmiae (Stockholm): Laurentii Salvii. p. 153.
  3. ^ Peters, James Lee, ed. (1934). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 2. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p. 230.
  4. ^ Albin, Eleazar; Derham, William (1738). A Natural History of Birds : Illustrated with a Hundred and One Copper Plates, Curiously Engraven from the Life. Vol. 3. London: Printed for the author and sold by William Innys. p. 85, Plate 90.
  5. ^ Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (December 2023). "Sandpipers, snipes, coursers". IOC World Bird List Version 14.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 14 August 2024.
  6. ^ Northern Territory Field Naturalists' Club; Club, Northern Territory Field Naturalists' (2003). Northern Territory Naturalist. Vol. 17 (2003:Jul). Winnellie, N.T: , Northern Territory Field Naturalists' Club.
  7. ^ "Greater painted-snipe - eBird". ebird.org. Retrieved 2023-12-23.
  8. ^ a b c d e Elphick, Jonathan (2014). The World of Birds. Firefly Books. pp. 360–361. ISBN 9781770853041. OL 27167038M.
  9. ^ African Bird Club.; Club, African Bird (2017). Bulletin of the African Bird Club. Vol. v.24:no.1 (2017:Mar.). Cambridge: African Bird Club.
  10. ^ a b c d Navarro, R. A. "Painted Snipe" (PDF). Rostratulidae: Painted Snipe (PDF). pp. 372–373.
  11. ^ a b "Greater Painted-snipe (Rostratula benghalensis) - BirdLife species factsheet". datazone.birdlife.org. Retrieved 2023-12-23.
  12. ^ Kirwan, G.M. (1996). "Family Rostratulidae (Painted-snipes)". In del Hoyo, J.; Elliott, A.; Sargatal, J. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World. Vol. 3: Hoatzin to Auks. Barcelona, Spain: Lynx Edicions. pp. 292-301 [300]. ISBN 978-84-87334-20-7.
  13. ^ Komeda, Shigemoto (1983). "Nest attendance of parent birds in the painted snipe (Rostratula benghalensis)". The Auk. 100 (1): 48–55. doi:10.1093/auk/100.1.48.
  14. ^ Wesley, H.D. (1993). "Breeding behaviour sequential polyandry and population decline in Rostratula benghalensis". In Verghese, A; Sridhar, S; Chakravarthy, AK (eds.). Bird Conservation: Strategies for the Nineties and Beyond. Ornithological Society of India, Bangalore. pp. 166–172.
  15. ^ Wesley, H. Daniel. "A male painted snipe and his chick". Newsletter for Birdwatchers. 30 (7&8): 3.
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