Least Seedsnipe (Thinocorus rumicivorus)

Identification & Behavior: ~17 cm (6.6 in). The Least Seedsnipe is sexually dimorphic. The adult male has gray breast and sides of the neck with a distinctive median black stripe. The back is mottled with brown and dusky. The belly is white. The female is mottled with brown and dusky. The belly is white. The juvenile looks like a female. It walks on the ground and can be easily overlooked if a bird remains still. It performs nuptial flights and it is rather vocal during the breeding season. It is smaller than the similar Gray-breasted Seedsnipe.

Status: The Least Seedsnipe is nomadic and largely restricted to the foothills of the west slope of the Andes. It appears to follow the seeding events along coastal “Lomas vegetation” where it can be common. It overlaps with the Gray-breasted Seedsnipe in the altiplano of Southern Peru. It also occurs in Ec, Bo, and Ch.

Name in Spanish: Agachona Chica.

Sub-species: Least Seedsnipe (Thinocorus rumicivorus cuneicauda) Eschscholtz, 1829. Lowlands of SW Ecuador in W Guayas (possibly extinct), and from NW Peru S to NW Chile (Tarapacá). (T. r. bolivianus) Lowe, 1921. Altiplano from S Peru (Arequipa, Cusco, y Puno) through NE Chile (S to Atacama) and W Bolivia to NW Argentina (Jujuy to Mendoza).

Meaning of Name:  Thinocorus: Gr. Thinos= sand, a beach, corys=lark like. rumiciborus: L. rumex, rumicis= Sorrel, vorus=eating. A bird that lives in sandy areas that resembles a lark and eats red-brown seeds.

Go to the Family Thinocoridae