# Great snipe (*Gallinago media*)

Canonical page: https://creaturedata.com/animals/great-snipe  
Data as of: 2026-11-11

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. 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.

## Quick facts

| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| Weight | 156 g – 179.5 g |
| Length | Not recorded |
| Wingspan | 47 cm – 50 cm |
| Lifespan | Not recorded |
| Diet | Aquatic predator |
| Main food | Not recorded |
| Habitat | wetland |
| Egg incubation | 23 days |
| Young per litter or clutch | 4 |
| Lifestyle | Terrestrial |
| Migration | Migratory |
| Conservation status | Near Threatened (IUCN) |
| Countries on record | Not recorded |

## Classification

- kingdom: Animalia
- phylum: Chordata
- class: Aves
- order: Charadriiformes
- family: Scolopacidae
- genus: Gallinago
- species: *Gallinago 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*

## Common questions

### 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

- [An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles](https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1), 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](https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7), 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](https://www.checklistbank.org/dataset/316691), 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](https://commons.wikimedia.org), 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](https://www.wikidata.org), CC0 1.0, 2026-11-11. Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service).
- [Wikipedia (English)](https://en.wikipedia.org), 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).

Cite as: Great snipe (Gallinago media). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/great-snipe