Wilson's Snipe

How to find it

Look at wet places, not dry ground: grassy marshes, flooded pastures, roadside pools and puddles. On one tour, a snipe was found in a roadside pool, and seven Least Sandpipers were feeding in a roadside puddle on the way there, so shorebird flocks deserve a second look for a striped head. Another group saw it on a flooded cattle pasture alongside Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks, Blue-winged Teal and Glossy Ibis. One was flushed by chance from a small leftover wetland at La Ceiba in Guanacaste, which fits its habit of sitting tight. Walk slowly and watch the ground ahead of you.

How to recognise it

Look for a pudgy shorebird with short legs and a striped head.

The back carries long buffy streaks. In Costa Rica, field guides describe two bold buff stripes down each side of the back.

The underparts are white, with flanks barred in black, brown and buff.

The tail is orange with a black band near the tip, a detail you may catch as the bird flies off.

The eyes sit far back on the head. This lets the bird watch for predators on both sides while its bill is buried in the mud.

What it sounds like

Recording: Anders Hastings, CC BY 4.0, source, read 4 Nov 2026.

Behaviour and diet

By day it feeds alone or in loose groups. It pushes its bill deep into soft mud, or pecks at the surface, grass or shallow water, taking worms, insect larvae, small snails and seeds.

When alarmed it crouches and freezes. It usually flushes only when nearly stepped on, then flies low and erratically before dropping suddenly to the ground.

It usually sleeps in flocks. It also moves seasonally in response to changes in water level in its habitat.

Where it lives

In Costa Rica it lives in grassy marshes, ponds, lakes and lagoons, and it also uses watery meadows and rain puddles.

It is widespread from the lowlands up to mid elevations, and during migration it sometimes reaches 3,000 m.

Sizeable concentrations still occur in the Central Valley, especially around Cartago. It has also turned up in Guanacaste and in the wetlands of the northern plains.

When to see it

It arrives in mid to late October and stays until March or April.

Similar birds

The bill looks like a dowitcher's, but the stocky body and the lack of a white rump separate the two. It is smaller than a Long-billed Dowitcher, with shorter legs and a pudgier body, and the streaked back and striped head help too. Until 2003 it was treated as a subspecies of the Common Snipe, which it closely resembles. It has 16 tail feathers, against 14 in the Common Snipe.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

Costa Ricans use the names Becada and Becacina Común for this bird, and the official list gives Becacina Común (Becada) as the Spanish name.

Status and conservation

The official Costa Rican bird list marks it as M, a migrant, and it is a widespread but usually uncommon winter resident, rated Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.

Photography tips

Snipe usually sit tight until you are almost on top of them, so approaching one for a photo is hard. They forage on the ground but sometimes perch on posts or stumps, where they are easier to see. They are most active at dawn and dusk, often doze through the day, and like thick, low vegetation where they can hide.