Short-billed Dowitcher

Limnodromus griseusOrder: CHARADRIIFORMES Family: Sandpipers (Scolopacidae)

Codes: Common Name: SBDO Scientific Name: LIMGRI ITIS Taxonomic No.: 176675

Short-billed Dowitcher: The breeding adult Short-billed Dowitcher has dark brown mottled upperparts, white rump, and red-brown underparts with heavy spots and bars. Bill is long, straight, and dark. Legs are long and dark yellow-green.

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Overview

Short-billed Dowitcher Breeding Adult: Large sandpiper, upperparts mottled gray, black, brown and red-brown, white rump, red-brown underparts with heavy spots, and bars (east and west coast birds have heavier barred and spotted, paler underparts and often show white bellies). Strong direct flight.

Range and Habitat

Short-billed Dowitcher: Breeds in southern Alaska, central interior Canada, and northern Quebec. Spends winters along coasts of California and Virginia southward. Preferred habitats include mudflats, creeks, salt marshes, and tidal estuaries.

Topo Map: Sandpiper-like Body

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"tu-tu-tu"

Interesting Facts

Until 1950, the Short-billed Dowitcher and Long-billed Dowitcher were considered to be one species.

The name of this bird can be somewhat misleading, as its bill is only short in comparison with the Long-billed Dowitcher.

The nest and eggs of this species eluded discovery until 1906, and even that information was overlooked for a long while because they were attributed to the Long-billed Dowitcher.

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

Bird Term Glossary

Author

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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.

Short-billed Dowitcher

● Song: "tu-tu-tu"

● Foraging & Feeding: Short-billed Dowitcher: Diet consists mostly of insects, but also eats eggs of king and horseshoe crabs; probes mud by jabbing its long bill up and down.

● Breeding & nesting: Short-billed Dowitcher: Four brown-speckled, buff green or brown eggs are laid in a ground depression lined with grass and moss. Eggs are incubated for 21 days by the female.

● Similar species: Short-billed Dowitcher: Long-billed Dowitcher has barred flanks, rust-brown belly, thin, white wing stripes visible in flight, and longer bill.

Flight Pattern

Strong powerful direct flight.

Short-billed Dowitcher Body Illustration

● Range & Habitat: Short-billed Dowitcher: Breeds in southern Alaska, central interior Canada, and northern Quebec. Spends winters along coasts of California and Virginia southward. Preferred habitats include mudflats, creeks, salt marshes, and tidal estuaries.

^BreedingMonogamous, Colonial

^Population

^MigrationMigratory

^Weight3.8 Ounces

Sandpiper-like Body

Underparts

Belly, undertail coverts, chest, flanks, and foreneck.

Upperparts

Back, rump, hindneck, wings, and crown.

Rump

The area between the uppertail coverts and the back of the bird.

4 and 6 letter alpha codes

The four letter common name alpha code is is derived from the first two letters of the common first name and the first two letters of common last name. The six letter species name alpha code is derived from the first three letters of the scientific name (genus) and the first three letters of the scientific name (species). See (1) below for the rules used to create the codes..

Four-letter (for English common names) and six-letter (for scientific names) species alpha codes were developed by Pyle and DeSante (2003, North American Bird-Bander 28:64-79) to reflect A.O.U. taxonomy and nomenclature (A.O.U. 1998) as modified by Supplements 42 (Auk 117:847-858, 2000) and 43 (Auk 119:897-906, 2002). The list has been updated by Pyle and DeSante to reflect changes reported by the A.O.U from 2003 through 2006.

Field Guide to Birds of North America