Rostratula benghalensis
Size: 23 -28cm
Weight: 90 – 200g
Found: Found across Africa, South Asia and South-east Asia. Usually found close to the fringes of reed beds along shorelines of marshes, swamps, ponds and streams.
Description: Medium-sized, plump wading bird. Long reddish-brown bill, slightly decurved at tip, and distinct white or pinkish eye patch. Rounded, buff-spotted wings and short tail. White of breast extends up around top of folded wing. The painted-snipe is not related to the true snipes and differs from them in habits, flight and appearance, being far more colorful and having longer legs than the snipes. It is unusual in that the female is larger and more brightly colored than the male, with the sides of the head, neck and throat a rich chestnut brown, and a distinct black band across the breast; the male is paler and greyer.
Diet: A range of insects, crustaceans, molluscs and seeds.
Comment: The nest is usually a shallow scrape in soft ground, lined with plant material and situated among grass or reeds at the water’s edge; sometimes a pad of vegetation or a nest of grass and weeds.
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