Gallinago nemoricola
Silhouette: Jamie Whitehouse · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10%
The wood snipe (Gallinago nemoricola) is a species of snipe which breeds in the Himalayas of northern India, Nepal, Bhutan and southern China. In winter, it occurs at lower altitudes in the Himalayas, as a regular visitor in small numbers to north Vietnam. it also occurs as a vagrant in central and southern India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar, north Thailand and Laos. It is reportedly very well-known to Chauri herders in the Himalayas.
This is a dark snipe, 28–32 centimetres (11–13 in) in length, with a short, broad-based bill. In the May-July breeding season, it breeds in alpine meadows above 3,000 metres (9,800 ft), moving to lower altitudes in the winter. Wood snipes breed and nest on boulders near rhododendron shrubs. A 2021 study in Sichuan province during the breeding season (May-July), showed that the birds preferred the lower parts (3,378–3,624 m) of the alpine meadow with intermediate levels of soil moisture, with the birds preferring to forage at sites with higher soil fauna abundance.
The species has been classified as Vulnerable by the IUCN, with a population of mature birds between 2,500 and 10,000 as of 2025. The widespread loss of wetlands habitats in its breeding and wintering grounds has been a major reason for its decline. It has been recorded in some protected areas, including Langtang and Sagarmatha National Parks in Nepal.
It eats invertebrates, primarily worms. Its diet also includes seeds and larvae found in Chauri dung. Wikipedia →
Parades0:23
India · 2003
© Fernand DEROUSSEN · XC131857 · CC BY-NC-ND 3.0
Song0:38
China · 1999
© Frank Lambert · XC68350 · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
Recording0:04
Bhutan · 2025
© Phuentsho · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Doi Inthanon National Park | 🇹🇭 Thailand |
More parks will be added in future updates.
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Wood Snipe sighting in Doi Inthanon National Park on a given day, based on 55 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 245th most-seen of the 367 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February
In that month about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Wood Snipe in Doi Inthanon National Park on a given day, against under 5% in March to January, the lowest months. That is one of Doi Inthanon National Park's driest months, with about 20 mm of rain against 340 mm in August.
Between 6 and 9 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Wood Snipe sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only Doi Inthanon National Park, in our data
Doi Inthanon National Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Wood Snipe sightings: under 5% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Wood Snipe is recorded against all the birds logged in Doi Inthanon National Park (55 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
