Gallinago hardwickii
Silhouette: Jamie Whitehouse · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
Latham's snipe (Gallinago hardwickii), also Japanese snipe is a medium-sized, long-billed, migratory snipe of the East Asian–Australasian Flyway. The origin of the bird's common name is not clear. John Latham was a well-known English physician and ornithologist in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and had a great interest in Australasian birds. However, he had no apparent connection with the snipe named after him.
The snipe is 29–33 cm long, with a wingspan of 50–54 cm and weight of 150–230 g. It is identifiable as a Gallinago snipe by its cryptically-patterned black, brown, buff and white plumage. However, in the field it is not easily distinguished from Swinhoe's snipe and the pin-tailed snipe, though it is slightly larger.
The snipe breeds mainly in Hokkaidō in northern Japan, with smaller numbers on Honshū, the eastern Russian mainland and Sakhalin and, historically, the Kurile Islands. The entire population migrates and spends the non-breeding season principally in eastern Australia, where it is the commonest Gallinago snipe. It has been recorded on migration in Taiwan, the Philippines and New Guinea... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nikko National Park | 🇯🇵 Japan | |
| 2 | Great Otway National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 3 | Daintree National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 4 | Royal National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 5 | Blue Mountains National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sapporo Maruyama Zoo | 🇯🇵 Japan |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Latham's Snipe sighting in Great Otway National Park on a given day, based on 93 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 113th most-seen of the 175 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
November and December
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Latham's Snipe in Great Otway National Park on a given day, against under 5% in January to October, the lowest months.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Latham's 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.
2nd of 5
Of the 5 parks where we can rate Latham's Snipe sightings, Great Otway National Park ranks 2nd at under 5%. The best odds are in Nikko National Park (Japan, about 10%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Latham's Snipe is recorded against all the birds logged in Great Otway National Park (93 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.
