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)
© Chris Wood
- 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.
© Eric Gofreed / Macaulay Library - 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.
© Sean Fitzgerald / Macaulay Library