A Snipe but not a Common Snipe in Hong Kong

 

AJP spotted this snipe at Nam Sang Wai last week. It is either, as confirmed by that very co-operative underwing view, a Pin-tailed Sbnipe (Gallinago stenura) or a Swinhoe’s Snipe (G. megala). Unfortunately, only with a bird in the hand and the tail feathers spread is it possible to tell t’other from which. Both are passage migrants in Hong Kong. The Pin-tailed breeds in Russia and Mongolia and winters from India to northern Australia. Swinhoe’s breeds in central Asia, Mongolia and Russia and winters across southern Asia to Australasia.