Latham's Snipe

Latham's Snipe (Gallinago hardwickii) is a large cryptic snipe with long straight bill, striped crown and strongly patterned brown-and-buff plumage. Body shape, bill structure, plumage pattern and voice provide the strongest field characters. Age, sex and season may alter its appearance, so identification should combine several features and careful direct comparisons with similar species in the same habitat (Wikipedia, general species account).

It breeds in East Asia and eastern Russia, then migrates to Australasian wetlands where it probes soft ground for invertebrates. Its movements and social behaviour vary through the year, with breeding birds generally more dispersed and non-breeding birds gathering where food is concentrated. The Korean vertebrate catalogue used for this guide records the species in South Korea (Wikipedia, general species account; Wildlife of Korea occurrence records).