Gallinago nigripennis
Silhouette: Jamie Whitehouse · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
The African snipe (Gallinago nigripennis) also known as the Ethiopian snipe, is a small stocky wader. It breeds in eastern and southern Africa in wet mountain moorland and swamps at altitudes of 1,700–4,000 m (5,600–13,100 ft). When not breeding it disperses widely, including into coastal lowlands.
This 30–32 cm (12–13 in) long snipe has a stocky body and relatively short legs for a wader. Its upperparts, head and neck are streaked and patterned with bold dark brown stripes and gold edges to the feathers forming lines down its back. The belly is white, with some brown barring on the flanks but never on the belly. The pinkish-brown bill is very long, straight and fairly robust. The legs and feet are yellowish-olive to greenish-grey. The sexes are similar, and immatures differ only in showing pale fringes on the wing coverts.
The African snipe makes a hleep call as it takes off, and has a far carrying kip call when breeding. It shows white trailing edges on the wings and white tail corners in flight. The African snipe can only be confused with the three migrant snipes that occur in its range, common, pin-tailed and great snipe. Great snipe is obviously larger, darker... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bale Mountains National Park | 🇪🇹 Ethiopia | |
| 2 | Aberdare National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 3 | Chobe National Park | 🇧🇼 Botswana | |
| 4 | Pilanesberg National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 5 | Moremi Game Reserve | 🇧🇼 Botswana | |
| 6 | Liwonde National Park | 🇲🇼 Malawi | |
| 7 | iSimangaliso Wetland Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 8 | Murchison Falls National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 9 | Ngorongoro Conservation Area | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 10 | Serengeti National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 11 | West Coast National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 12 | Queen Elizabeth National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 13 | Kruger National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Johannesburg | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 2 | Cape Town | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report an African Snipe sighting in Liwonde National Park on a given day, based on 8 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 244th most-seen of the 267 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.
September and October
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report an African Snipe in Liwonde National Park on a given day, against under 5% in November to August, the lowest months. Those are among Liwonde National Park's driest months, with about 10 mm of rain a month against 300 mm in January.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most African Snipe sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
6th of 13
Of the 13 parks where we can rate African Snipe sightings, Liwonde National Park ranks 6th at under 5%. The best odds are in Bale Mountains National Park (Ethiopia, about 20%), Aberdare National Park (Kenya, about 10%) and Chobe National Park (Botswana, about 10%).
Same family: Scolopacidae
The closest relatives of the African Snipe that you can see in Liwonde National Park (family Scolopacidae, Sandpipers and Allies) are Common Sandpiper (about 50%), Common Greenshank (about 30%) and Wood Sandpiper (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the African Snipe is recorded against all the birds logged in Liwonde National Park (8 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.
