Birds of Singapore
by the Bird Society of Singapore
Gallinago megala
Family: Sandpipers and Allies · Status: Rare migrant · Size: 27–29 cm · Conservation: Least Concern
Breeds in south-central Siberia, northern Mongolia, and the Russian Far East. Winters from the Indian subcontinent east to southern and eastern China, south through the Thai-Malay Peninsula, the Philippines, and Indonesia to New Guinea and northern Australia.
The rarest of three Gallinago snipes in Singapore, possibly overlooked due to difficulty separating from Pin-tailed. From Common Snipe, differentiated by lack of white trailing edge to secondaries, shorter bill, and larger-headed appearance. Only truly separable from Pin-tailed by the spread tail: outermost tail feathers are narrow, with the rest gradually widening toward centre, giving at least two intermediate-width feathers outside the central few — Pin-tailed shows only one such feather, with the remaining outer feathers being pin-like (extremely narrow).
Damp grasslands, edges of waterbodies, and muddy freshwater marshes.
Like other snipes, feeds by probing in wet soil.