The Scolopacidae is a medium-sized or small wader that has long and short legs, with the bill being either short or long and straight or decurved, sometimes being re-curved.

Distribution

The scolopacidae are found worldwide except in the Antarctic. The family of these birds occurs basically in every part of the world except on the started continent. Most of these species live on the Northern Hemisphere during their breeding season, mostly occurring in the boreal, arctic regions and sub arctic areas, where only a couple of them breed within the tropical or temperate zones. Most of the scolopacidae Northern species that are breeding migrate a lot during winter, mostly within the tropics to South America, Southern Hemisphere, and Southern Asia through Australasia to Africa.

Physical Characteristics

The scolopacidae waders have various varieties in terms of length, from around 5 to 26 inches, while in so many of these species the bill does make a significant proportion of the overall length. The great variation in terms of bill morphology does reflect the great diversity in terms of food resource that they make use of as well as the length of the habitat they have.

The shape of the scolopacidae species bodies does vary, from stocky to slender, while the tail is quite short, legs and neck being fairly longer. The feet are usually endowed with quite long frontal toes with a shorter hind toes while there are some of the species that are webbed partially. Most of these species are able to run in rapid succession; while they can also swim many of these species do wade habitually within more shallow water bodies. In other species, the wings are longer and sometimes pointed, while they are adapted to a longer migratory pattern. The sexes of the scolopacidae are quite indistinguishable in more plumage features.

Habitat

The scolopacidae habitat does vary a lot since they are definitely found almost in every land mass around the world. It ranges from the coastal to the inland wetlands, from breeding in the tundra, grassland, marshland, forests, scrub and steppe. As much as the scolopacid waders do occupy wider regions in terms of habitat during the season they are not breeding, the breeding habitats are not as diverse, where all the species do nest within habitats in the inland. They dominate more freshwater systems of wetlands, where they are perhaps the only bird species that breed along salty coastal marshes, such as the common redshank species or Tringa tetanus, the willet or Catoptrophorus semipalmatus and the Nordmann’s greenshank or Tringa guttifer.

Significance to humans

Most of the scolopacidae have appeared in much folklore around the world, such as the common snipe in America and Europe, while its arrival in spring time is related to significant events. In Newfoundland it is largely associated with the arrival of inshore lobsters, while in North America it is largely associated with the coming of a fish species for commercial venture. These snipes are also associated with bad weather if they are killed in the Eskimo beliefs and a sign that rain will come in Europe.