A snipe of North American wetlands. It probes wet soil with its long bill for insect larvae, worms, and other small prey.
It has a plump body with fine brown and buff markings that blend into wetlands, and a long slender bill.
It probes wet soil with its bill for insect larvae, worms, and other prey. During courtship, its tail feathers make a winnowing sound in flight.
The female selects a waterside ground site and weaves coarse grasses into a shallow scrape, with finer grasses inside. Two to four eggs are incubated for 18–20 days. Chicks hatch in brown down blotched with black and leave that day.
It mainly eats insect larvae, including crane flies and horse flies, as well as snails, crustaceans and worms. Its flexible bill probes wet soil and can swallow small prey without being withdrawn.
Pale stripes mark the head, and three long buff streaks run along the edges and center of the dark back. The breast is spotted and streaked, the flanks heavily barred and the belly white. Both wing surfaces are dark in flight.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.