Long-billed Dowitcher Identification

The Four Keys to ID

• Size & Shape

  A plump, medium-sized shorebird with a very long bill, relatively long legs, and short tail.

  Relative Size

  Larger than a Lesser Yellowlegs, smaller than a Greater Yellowlegs.

  robin-sized

  Measurements

  • Both Sexes
  • • Length: 11.4 in (29 cm)
    • Weight: 3.1-4.6 oz (88-131 g)
    • Wingspan: 18.5-19.3 in (47-49 cm)
• Color Pattern

  Breeding adults have black, gold, rufous, and white upperparts with rufous reddish underparts marked with dark scalloping. Nonbreeding adults are grayish above and on the breast, with a pale belly. Fresh juveniles have blackish back feathers neatly edged rufous, buffy, or pale rusty. All plumages show long pale supercilium (eyebrow) and a white back between wings.

• Behavior

  Long-billed Dowitchers probe deeply into mud or sand with an up-and-down motion likened to the needle of a sewing machine. They tend to forage in water less than about 3 inches deep. On the breeding grounds, males sing from high in the air over the territory.

• Habitat

  Breeds in wet sedge meadows with small ponds in tundra lowlands and foothills. On migration and in winter, uses ponds, marshes, sewage treatment facilities, and other freshwater environments; less often estuaries, rivers, and tidal flats.