Great snipe
Gallinago media (Latham, 1787)
The great snipe (Gallinago media) is a bird in the family Scolopacidae, within the order Charadriiformes. It is a small bird with an adult body mass of 170 g, ranging from 156 g to 179.5 g, and a wingspan of 48.5 cm.
Quick facts about the great snipe
A migratory, terrestrial carnivore classed as an aquatic predator, it lives in wetland habitat across a range of 7,814,000 km². The IUCN Red List classes the great snipe as Near Threatened, which is not a threatened category.
- Weight
- 156 g – 179.5 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Wingspan
- 47 cm – 50 cmsrc for Wingspan
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Diet
- Aquatic predatorsrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- wetlandsrc for Habitat
- Egg incubation
- 23 dayssrc for Egg incubation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 4src for Young per litter or clutch
- Lifestyle
- Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
- Migration
- Migratorysrc for Migration
- Conservation status
- Near Threatened (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
How big is the great snipe?
Photos of the great snipe
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
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Where does the great snipe live?
Not recorded
What is the great snipe?
The great snipe (Gallinago media) is a small stocky wader in the genus Gallinago. This bird's breeding habitat is marshes and wet meadows with short vegetation in northeastern Europe and northern Asia, from Scandinavia and Poland east across northern Russia to western Siberia, and south to northern Kazakhstan. Great snipe are migratory, wintering in tropical Africa. The European breeding population is in steep decline.
From the Wikipedia article “Great snipe” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Great_snipe&oldid=1370760416), 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 great snipe endangered?
The great snipe is listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List: it is close to qualifying as threatened.
- 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 Near Threatened species.
How is the great snipe classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderCharadriiformes
- familyScolopacidae
- genusGallinago
- SpeciesGallinago media (Latham, 1787)
Synonyms Capella media, Gallinago major, Gallinago major, Gallinago major orientalis, Scolopax gallina, Scolopax major, Scolopax media, Scolopax media, Scolopax media, Scolopax montagui, Scolopax paludosa, Scolopax palustris, Scolopax risoria, Scolopax solitaria, Telmatias brachyptera, Telmatias major, Telmatias nisoria, Telmatias uliginosa
Other names and names in other languages (88)
- DubbelsnipAfrikaans
- شنقب كبيرArabic
- بكاشين كبيرArabic
- جهلول كبيرArabic
- gacha realAsturian
- Gacha RialAsturian
- Ortaboy tənbəlcüllütAzerbaijani
- ЗырҡыуытBashkir
- ДубальтBelarusian
- ДублаBulgarian
- Голяма бекасинаBulgarian
- Средна бекасинаBulgarian
- Gioc'h lost gwennBreton
- Becadell grosCatalan
- becadell reialCatalan
- ВӗтелChuvash
- bekasina většíCzech
- Gïach fawrWelsh
- gïach mawrWelsh
- Gïachod MawrWelsh
- tredækkerDanish
- TredækkerenDanish
- DoppelschnepfeGerman
- MittelschnepfeGerman
- ΔιπλοπικάτσονοGreek
- ΔιπλομπεκάτσινοGreek
- granda galinagoEsperanto
- Agachadiza realSpanish
- rohuneppEstonian
- Istingor handiBasque
- پاشلک بزرگPersian
- heinäkurppaFinnish
- Trírondut snípaFaroese
- Bécassine doubleFrench
- DobelsnepNorthern Frisian
- Naoscach mórIrish
- Naoscach mhórIrish
- Becacina realGalician
- Coar heddagh vooarManx
- חרטומית בינוניתHebrew
- nagy sárszalonkaHungarian
- ԿրկնակտցարArmenian
- HeiðasnípaIcelandic
- croccoloneItalian
- ヨーロッパジシギJapanese
- გოჭაGeorgian
- БжьыхьэджэдKabardian
- МањқыKazakh
- МаңқыKazakh
- Жалган эчкимааракKyrgyz
- Duebel BekassinnLuxembourgish
- stulgysLithuanian
- paprastasis stulgysLithuanian
- ķikutsLatvian
- Голема шлукаMacedonian
- голема бекасинаMacedonian
- Bekkaċċ ta' MejjuMaltese
- Оноот хараалжMongolian
- Ndahoditsʼǫʼtah tábąąsdísíNavajo
- poelsnipDutch
- dobbeltbekkasinNorwegian
- dubeltPolish
- (bekas) dubeltPolish
- Bekas dubeltPolish
- وڈا سنائپWestern Panjabi
- narceja-realPortuguese
- Becassina dublaRomansh
- becaţină mareRomanian
- Becațină mareRomanian
- дупельRussian
- SáhcomeahkástatNorthern Sami
- StuorrameahkástatNorthern Sami
- močiarnica ticháSlovak
- CoketaSlovenian
- čoketaSlovenian
- shapka e madhe e ujitAlbanian
- shepka e madhe e ujitAlbanian
- Šljuka livadarkaSerbian
- Šljuka livadarka - Шлјука ливадаркаSerbian
- dubbelbeckasinSwedish
- Sululu MkubwaSwahili
- buyk su culluguTurkish
- büyük su çulluğuTurkish
- ДылбыйTuvinian
- Баранець великийUkrainian
- 大沙錐Chinese
- 斑腹沙錐Chinese
- 斑腹沙锥Chinese
Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List
Relatives of the great snipe
Other species in the same genus Gallinago.
Common snipe
Gallinago gallinago
Pintail snipe
Gallinago stenura
Solitary snipe
Gallinago solitaria
Swinhoe's snipe
Gallinago megala
Snipe
Gallinago delicata
Wood snipe
Gallinago nemoricola
CompareGreat snipe vs Common snipeGreat snipe vs Pintail snipeGreat snipe vs Solitary snipeGreat snipe vs Swinhoe's snipe
Common questions
Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.
What kind of animal is the great snipe?
The great snipe is a bird in the family Scolopacidae, part of the order Charadriiformes.
How heavy is the great snipe?
Adult great snipes weigh 170 g, with reported values from 156 g to 179.5 g.
What does the great snipe eat?
The great snipe is a carnivore classed as an aquatic predator.
What habitat does the great snipe live in?
The great snipe lives in wetland habitat and forages on the ground.
Is the great snipe endangered?
No. The great snipe is listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List, which is not a threatened category.
How many eggs does the great snipe lay?
The great snipe lays 4 eggs per clutch, and incubation lasts 23 days.
Does the great snipe migrate?
Yes, the great snipe is migratory.
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). Great snipe (Gallinago media). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/great-snipe
“Great snipe (Gallinago media).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/great-snipe.
@misc{great_snipe_2026,
title = {Great snipe (Gallinago media)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/great-snipe},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}