Puna Snipe

The puna snipe (Gallinago andina) is a bird in tribe Scolopancinai and subfamily Scolopacinae of family Scolopacidae, the sandpipers and relatives. It is native to the puna grassland. == Taxonomy and systematics == The taxonomic history of the New World snipes of genus Gallinago is complicated. What is now the puna snipe has in the past been treated as a subspecies of common snipe (G. gallinago) with what are now the Pantanal snipe (G. paraguaiae) and the Magellanic snipe (G. magellanica). After the puna snipe was recognized as a species, the Pantanal and Magellanic snipes were sometimes treated as subspecies of it. By about the year 2000 all three were beginning to be recognized as individual species by most taxonomic systems. The current (2022) puna snipe has two subspecies, the nominate G. a. andina (Taczanowski, 1875) and G. a. innotata (Hellmayr, 1932). == Description == The puna snipe is 22.5 to 25 cm (8.9 to 9.8 in) long and weighs 65 to 105 g (2.3 to 3.7 oz). The sexes are alike. Their upperparts have a complex pattern of muted whitish, buffy, rufous, black, and brown. White trailing edges to their wings show when in flight. Their breast and flanks…