Its upperparts, head and neck are streaked and patterned with medium brown stripes and whitish edges to the feathers forming lines down its back.

Many birds are sedentary in the high mountains, or just move downhill in hard weather, but others are migratory, wintering in northeast Iran, Pakistan, northern India, Bangladesh, eastern China, Korea, Japan and Sakhalin.

The solitary snipe builds a saucer-shaped nest of dry grass in the drier areas of its breeding wetland.

The solitary snipe forages by pushing its long bill deep into the mud seeking invertebrates, such as insects and worms, seeds and plants.

It is quite approachable, but if alarmed, it crouches, and its cryptic plumage provides effective camouflage when the bird stands motionless amongst marsh vegetation.