Australian Painted-Snipe

1. Long, slightly down-curved pink-orange bill with a darker tip.

2. Distinctive white “comma” mark around the eye and white harness marking across the shoulders.

3. Females are larger and more colourful than malesa rare reversal among birds.

Australian Painted Snipes feed on invertebrates such as worms, insects, molluscs, and crustaceans, as well as seeds and plant material. They forage by probing and scything their bills in mud or shallow water, often at the water’s edge or in dense wetland vegetation. Breeding is closely tied to wetland conditions and can occur at any time of year, but peaks from August to December in the south and December to May in the north. Nests are ground scrapes or mounds, lined with grass and leaves, placed in dense cover near water or on small islands. Females lay 2–4 eggs per clutch, and males take sole responsibility for incubation and caring for the chicks, which are precocial and leave the nest soon after hatching. The species is nomadic, moving in response to changing wetland conditions.

Australian Painted Snipes are found in shallow, freshwater wetlands with good cover of grasses, reeds, rushes, or low shrubs, including lakes, swamps, dams, rice fields, and sewage farms. Their distribution is patchy and unpredictable, but they are most often recorded in the Murray-Darling Basin, Channel Country of Queensland, and parts of Victoria, South Australia, and New South Wales. They prefer ephemeral or recently flooded wetlands with exposed mud and dense cover, and are rarely found in brackish or saline habitats. Look for them at dawn or dusk, as they are most active and visible during these times.