Fuegian snipe
| Fuegian snipe | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Charadriiformes |
| Family: | Scolopacidae |
| Genus: | Gallinago |
| Species: | G. stricklandii |
| Binomial name | |
| Gallinago stricklandii (Gray, 1845) | |
The Fuegian snipe (Gallinago stricklandii) also known as the cordilleran snipe, is a small stocky wader. It breeds in south-central Chile and Argentina south to Tierra del Fuego. It is mainly sedentary, but the Tierra del Fuego population winters in mainland Chile.
It is sporadically recorded in the Falkland Islands, where it has reputedly bred. However, there is only one recent record and the historical documentation of breeding is a lost specimen of questionable identity. The occurrences in these islands could therefore be due to either a tiny breeding population or vagrancy from the mainland.
This species is common in Tierra del Fuego and decreasingly so farther north in its range. It is sometimes considered conspecific with Andean snipe, Gallinago jamesoni. The scientific name of the Fuegian snipe commemorates the English geologist, ornithologist and systematist, Hugh Edwin Strickland.