South American painted-snipe
species of bird

The South American painted-snipe (Nycticryphes semicollaris), or lesser painted-snipe, is a shorebird in the family Rostratulidae. There are two other species in its family, the Australian painted-snipe and the greater painted-snipe.
Description
Head and neck dark red-brown with a yellow stripe on the crown; upperparts dark grey-brown, spotted white; underparts white. Although the female may be slightly larger and brighter, in contrast to the two other species in the family, the South American painted-snipe is not strongly sexually dimorphic. It has a relatively long, decurved, bill. It has webbed feet, also a difference from the other painted snipe. Measurements: 19–23 cm in length; 65–86 g in weight.
Vocalizations
A hoarse, hissing "wee-oo" has been recorded from birds in captivity.
Distribution and habitat
The species is found in the southern third of South America, from southern Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay to Chile and Argentina. It inhabits lowland freshwater wetlands, including wet grasslands.
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This entry incorporates text from “South American painted-snipe” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.