All species › Waders, gulls and terns › Sandpipers and allies › Long-billed Dowitcher
Long-billed Dowitcher | Limnodromus scolopaceus
Grote grijze snip | Agujeta escolopácea | Maçarico-de-bico-longo
The Long-billed Dowitcher is a stocky shorebird with a long, straight bill that breeds in north-eastern Siberia, Alaska and north-western Canada and winters mainly in the southern United States and Central America. In the guide area it is a rare winter visitor and passage migrant, much scarcer than the Short-billed Dowitcher. Unlike that species, it mainly uses fresh water.
Voice
A high, sharp keek, single or in fast series, often on take-off and given constantly by flocks.
Recording: AUDEVARD Aurélien — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
27–30 cm, with a long, straight, dark bill, longer in the female than in the male, and rather short, greenish yellow legs. In non-breeding plumage plain grey on head, neck and breast, with a pale supercilium and a white belly with barred flanks. In breeding plumage the underparts are rufous down to the belly, with fine dark spots on the neck and barring on the sides of the breast. Juveniles have grey tertials with only narrow rusty fringes. In flight a white wedge runs from the rump far up the back; the tail is densely barred dark, with the dark bars broader than the pale ones. The sexes are alike in plumage.
Confusion species
Short-billed Dowitcher Limnodromus griseus is almost identical; the call is the most reliable feature. That species gives a softer, rippling tu-tu-tu, juveniles have tertials with rusty internal markings and in breeding plumage the belly is white; it keeps mainly to coastal mudflats. Stilt Sandpiper Calidris himantopus is slimmer, with a shorter bill slightly drooping at the tip and longer, yellow legs. Wilson's Snipe Gallinago delicata has a striped head and back and lives hidden in marsh vegetation.
Habitat
Shallow freshwater pools, marshes with open mud, rice fields and the edges of lagoons, usually in the lowlands; rarely on coastal mudflats. It feeds by probing deep into mud with rapid vertical movements, often belly-deep in water, taking worms, insect larvae, snails and seeds. It does not breed in the guide area.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
In Colombia a rare winter visitor, mainly in the Caribbean lowlands and on the plateau around Bogotá. In Ecuador a rare visitor, mainly on the western coast. In Peru very rare, with a few records on the coast. Not regularly recorded in Bolivia or the Galápagos. Outside the guide area it breeds on the tundra of Siberia, Alaska and north-western Canada and winters from the United States to Central America.
- Winter visitor (c. Oct–Mar)
- Passage (Mar–Apr, Oct–Nov)
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Check flocks of dowitchers on freshwater pools and in rice fields on the northern coast during the northern winter, and listen for the high keek on take-off.
Conservation status
Near Threatened. Numbers have declined; possible causes are the loss of wetlands along the flyway and on the wintering grounds and changes on the Arctic breeding grounds.
Scientific name
Limnodromus scolopaceus | (Say, 1822)
Say described the species in 1822 as Limosa scolopacea; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Limnodromus was introduced in 1833 by Wied-Neuwied. The genus name combines Greek limnē, 'marsh', with -dromos, 'runner'. The species name means 'snipe-like', from the genus Scolopax (Latin for woodcock) with -aceus, 'resembling'. The specimen the first description was based on came from Council Bluffs, Iowa, United States.