Long-billed Dowitcher

Limnodromus scolopaceusOrder: CHARADRIIFORMESFamily: Sandpipers (Scolopacidae)

General

Long-billed Dowitcher: Large, stocky sandpiper with dark, mottled upperparts, darker cap and eyestripe, short white eyebrow, and red-brown underparts with lightly barred flanks. Bill is very long, dark, and is very slightly decurved. Legs and feet are yellow-green. Sexes are similar, although female may have longer bill. Winter adult is gray overall with lightly barred white belly and shows fine dark spots on white vent. Juvenile resembles winter adult but is darker above and shows a brown wash on underparts.

Range and Habitat

Long-billed Dowitcher: Breeds in western Alaska and northwestern Canada. Spends winters along the coast from Washington and Virginia south to Guatemala. During breeding season lives on tundra; found on mudflats, marshes, and edges of freshwater ponds and marshes during winter.

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"keek"

Interesting Facts

The Long-billed Dowitcher is more likely to be seen near fresh water than the Short-billed Dowitcher.

Their bills are full of nerve endings, which are useful for sensing prey. They walk along slowly, lifting their heads up and down like a sewing machine.

A group of sandpipers has many collective nouns, including a "bind", "contradiction", "fling", "hill", and "time-step" of sandpipers.

Author

Gary Owen Dick

Bird database and its related content, illustrations and media is Copyright © 2002 - 2007 Whatbird.com
All rights reserved. No part of this web site may be reproduced without written permission from Mitch Waite Group.
Privacy Policy.

Percevia® Registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

Long-billed Dowitcher

Long-billed Dowitcher: Large, stocky sandpiper with dark, mottled upperparts, dark cap and eyestripe, short white eyebrow, and red-brown underparts with lightly barred flanks. Bill is long, dark, and dagger like. Legs and feet are yellow-green. Swift direct flight, rapid wing beats.

● Song: "keek"

● Foraging & Feeding: Long-billed Dowitcher: Feeds primarily on insect larvae, earthworms, crustaceans, moss, plant parts, seeds, and snails. Probes in shallow water and on mudflats with a fast, repetitive up-down motion of its bill; frequently plunges head below the water.

● Breeding & nesting: Long-billed Dowitcher: Four brown to olive eggs with brown and gray blotches are laid in a shallow, elevated ground scrape lined with grass and moss, often built near water. Eggs are incubated for 20 days and is carried out by both parents during the first week, and then just by the male.

● Similar species: Long-billed Dowitcher: Short-billed Dowitcher has faint bars on flanks and slightly shorter bill. Common Snipe has heavily streaked upperparts and longer legs, uses different foraging techniques, and lacks the white rump.

Flight Pattern

Swift direct flight with rapid wing beats.

● Range & Habitat: Long-billed Dowitcher: Breeds in western Alaska and northwestern Canada. Spends winters along the coast from Washington and Virginia south to Guatemala. During breeding season lives on tundra; found on mudflats, marshes, and edges of freshwater ponds and marshes during winter.

^BreedingMonogamous, Small colonies

^PopulationCommon to uncommon

^MigrationMigratory

^Weight3.5 Ounces

Field Guide to Birds of North America