Jack snipe

The jack snipe is a small stocky wading bird and the only species in the genus Lymnocryptes, part of the sandpiper family Scolopacidae. It measures 18 to 25 centimeters long with a wingspan of 30 to 41 centimeters and weighs 33 to 73 grams, notably smaller and shorter billed than the common snipe, with mottled brown upperparts, pale underparts, a dark eye stripe and yellow back stripes visible in flight. It breeds in marshes, bogs, tundra and wet meadows across northern Europe and Russia and winters in Great Britain, Mediterranean Europe, Africa and India, occasionally straying to North America. It is highly secretive, staying hidden and flushing only when an intruder is very close, and feeds by probing soft mud for insects, earthworms and plant material.