African snipe
Gallinago nigripennis Bonaparte, 1839
The African snipe (Gallinago nigripennis) is a species in the family Scolopacidae, order Charadriiformes. Recorded adults weigh 112 g to 130 g. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.
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Quick facts about the African snipe
- Weight
- 112 g – 130 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Diet
- Aquatic predatorsrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- wetlandsrc for Habitat
- Young per litter or clutch
- 2.4 – 2.5src for Young per litter or clutch
- Lifestyle
- Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
- Migration
- Partialsrc for Migration
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Where does the African snipe live?
Not recorded
What is the African snipe?
The African snipe (Gallinago nigripennis) also known as the Ethiopian snipe, is a small stocky wader. It breeds in eastern and southern Africa in wet mountain moorland and swamps at altitudes of 1,700–4,000 m (5,600–13,100 ft). When not breeding it disperses widely, including into coastal lowlands.
From the Wikipedia article “African snipe” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=African_snipe&oldid=1313802431), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the African snipe endangered?
The African snipe is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species. What the categories mean.
How is the African snipe classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderCharadriiformes
- familyScolopacidae
- genusGallinago
- SpeciesGallinago nigripennis Bonaparte, 1839
Synonyms Capella nigripennis
Other names and names in other languages (38)
- AFSNEnglish
- Ethiopian snipeEnglish
- Ethiopian snipeEnglish
- شنقب الأفريقيArabic
- Gioc'h AfrikaBreton
- becadell africàCatalan
- bekasina africkáCzech
- gïach AffricaWelsh
- Afrikansk BekkasinDanish
- AfrikabekassineGerman
- Afrika-BekassineGerman
- Afrikanische BekassineGerman
- Afrikanische SchnepfeGerman
- afrika galinagoEsperanto
- Agachadiza africanaSpanish
- aafrika tikutajaEstonian
- پاشلک آفریقاییPersian
- afrikankurppaFinnish
- Bécassine africaineFrench
- חרטומית אפריקניתHebrew
- afrička šljukaCroatian
- afrikai sárszalonkaHungarian
- beccacino africanoItalian
- Beccaccino africanoItalian
- アフリカジシギJapanese
- afrikinis perkūno oželisLithuanian
- Afrikaanse SnipDutch
- afrikabekkasinNorwegian
- bekas afrykańskiPolish
- narceja-africanaPortuguese
- Африканский бекасRussian
- močiarnica okatáSlovak
- Afrička barska šljukaSerbian
- afrikansk beckasinSwedish
- Afrika SuçulluğuTurkish
- баранець африканськийUkrainian
- 非洲沙锥Chinese
- 黑翅沙錐Chinese
Relatives of the African snipe
Other species in the same genus Gallinago.
Common snipe
Gallinago gallinago
Great snipe
Gallinago media
Pin-tailed snipe
Gallinago stenura
Solitary snipe
Gallinago solitaria
Swinhoe's snipe
Gallinago megala
Wilson's snipe
Gallinago delicata
CompareAfrican snipe vs Common snipeAfrican snipe vs Great snipeAfrican snipe vs Pin-tailed snipeAfrican snipe vs Solitary snipe
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the African snipe?
An adult African snipe weighs 112 g – 130 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
Is the African snipe endangered?
The African snipe is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.
What kind of animal is the African snipe?
The African snipe (Gallinago nigripennis) belongs to the family Scolopacidae in the order Charadriiformes.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). African snipe (Gallinago nigripennis). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/african-snipe
“African snipe (Gallinago nigripennis).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/african-snipe.
@misc{african_snipe_2026,
title = {African snipe (Gallinago nigripennis)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/african-snipe},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}