The rufous-bellied seedsnipe (''Attagis gayi'') is a

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

suborder Order () is one of the eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy. It is classified between family and class. In biological classification, the order is a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms and recognized ...

Scolopaci of order

Charadriiformes Charadriiformes (, from '' Charadrius'', the type genus of family Charadriidae) is a diverse order of small to medium-large birds. It includes about 390 species and has members in all parts of the world. Most charadriiform birds live near water ...

, the

shorebird 245px, A flock of Red_knot.html" ;"title="Dunlins and Red knot">Dunlins and Red knots Waders or shorebirds are birds of the order Charadriiformes commonly found wikt:wade#Etymology 1, wading along shorelines and mudflats in order to foraging, ...

s. It is found in

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

, and

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

Taxonomy and systematics

The rufous-bellied seedsnipe shares its genus with the

white-bellied seedsnipe The white-bellied seedsnipe (''Attagis malouinus'') is a species of bird in suborder Scolopaci of order Charadriiformes, the shorebirds. It is found Argentina and Chile. Taxonomy and systematics The white-bellied seedsnipe was described by the ...

(''A. malouinus''). They and the other two seedsnipes are closely related to the sandpipers of family

Scolopacidae Scolopacidae is a large family of shorebirds, or waders, which mainly includes many species known as sandpipers, but also others such as woodcocks, curlews and snipes. Most of these species eat small invertebrates picked out of the mud or soil ...

. It has three subspecies, the

nominate Nomination is part of the process of selecting a candidate for either election to a public office, or the bestowing of an honor or award. A collection of nominees narrowed from the full list of candidates is a short list. Political office In th ...

''A. g. gayi'', ''A. g. latrelillii'', and ''A. g. simonsi''. At least one publication has suggested that ''A. g. latrelillii'' might deserve to be recognized as a species. The rufous-bellied seedsnipe's

specific epithet In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...

commemorates the French naturalist

Claude Gay Claude Gay, often named Claudio Gay in Spanish texts, (18 March 1800 – 29 November 1873), was a French botanist, naturalist and illustrator. This explorer carried out some of the first investigations about Chilean flora, fauna, geology and ge ...

Description

The rufous-bellied seedsnipe is long and weighs about . The sexes are alike. The nominate subspecies' upperparts have an intricate scallop pattern of rufous-brown and blackish; its underparts are unmarked pale pinkish cinnamon. Subspecies ''A. g. latrelillii'' has a deeper rufous cinnamon than the nominate in its vent area and a scalloped breast. ''A. g. simonsi''s breast is a darker pinkish cinnamon than the nominate's; it is paler above with finer markings. Juveniles much resemble adults but with somewhat finer markings on their upperparts.Fjeldså, J. and G. M. Kirwan (2020). Rufous-bellied Seedsnipe (''Attagis gayi''), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.rubsee2.01 retrieved December 6, 2022

Distribution and habitat

Subspecies ''A. g. latrelillii'' of rufous-bellied seedsnipe is found far from the other subspecies, on seven high volcanoes in north-central Ecuador. ''A. g. simonsi'' is found from central Peru south through northern Chile and western Bolivia into northwestern Argentina. The nominate ''A. g. gayi'' is found from north central Chile and west central Argentina south almost to

Tierra del Fuego Tierra del Fuego (, ; Spanish for "Land of Fire", rarely also Fireland in English) is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South America, South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan. The archipelago consists of the main is ...

. The rufous-bellied seedsnipe inhabits alpine terrain in the Andes, often as high as the

snow line The climatic snow line is the boundary between a snow-covered and snow-free surface. The actual snow line may adjust seasonally, and be either significantly higher in elevation, or lower. The permanent snow line is the level above which snow wil ...

. It frequents boggy and other moist areas but also occurs in drier and rockier landscapes. Subspecies ''A. g. latrelillii'' is typically found in ''

páramo Páramo () may refer to a variety of alpine tundra ecosystems located in the Andes Mountain Range, South America. Some ecologists describe the páramo broadly as "all high, tropical, montane vegetation above the continuous timberline". A narrower ...

''. In the northern half of its range it mostly is found between . Further south it occurs down to and in the extreme south as low as .

Behavior

Movement

The rufous-bellied seedsnipe is essentially non-migratory, though southern populations are thought to move to lower elevation in the austral winter. It is a strong flier and when flushed flies in a fast zigzag.

Feeding

The rufous-bellied seedsnipe feeds on plant matter, typically in moist areas, but details of its diet are lacking.

Breeding

Little is known about the rufous-bellied seedsnipe's breeding biology. It lays eggs during September and October in Chile; further north the season extends to December. Its nest is a shallow scrape in the ground and the clutch size is typically four eggs.

Vocalization

The rufous-bellied seedsnipe frequently calls when flying and also while running; its call is "a melodic-sounding 'gly-gly-gly...' or 'cul-cul-cul...'" which several birds may make simultaneously.

Status

The

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

has assessed the rufous-bellied seedsnipe as being of Least Concern. It has a very large range, and though its population size is not known it is believed to be stable. No immediate threats have been identified. It occurs in several protected areas and is considered generally fairly common except in Ecuador. However, it is persecuted in some mining areas.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1268282

rufous-bellied seedsnipe The rufous-bellied seedsnipe (''Attagis gayi'') is a bird in suborder Scolopaci of order Charadriiformes, the shorebirds. It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, and Peru. Taxonomy and systematics The rufous-bellied seedsnipe share ...

Birds of the Ecuadorian Andes Birds of the Puna grassland

Taxa named by Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire Taxa named by René Lesson