What does a Dowitcher look like?

Basic Description. In breeding plumage, Short-billed Dowitchers are lovely orange, brown, and golden shorebirds with chunky bodies and very long bills (despite the name). Look for them in wetlands across North America, from coastal mudflats to sewage ponds and flooded fields.

What do Short-billed Dowitcher eat?

Eats many insects and their larvae, especially on breeding grounds. In migration and winter also eats mollusks, marine worms, crustaceans. At times, may feed heavily on seeds of grasses, bulrushes, pondweeds, other plants. In spring, also feeds on eggs of horseshoe crab.

How do you tell a dowitcher apart?

The lower belly on Short-billed Dowitchers appears slimmer than the rotund bellies of Long-billed Dowitchers. The two species are very similar; voice is the best way to tell them apart.

Where does a short billed dowitcher migrate to?

Unlike the Long-billed Dowitcher, Short-billed Dowitchers migrate in stages, first moving to intermediate areas to complete their molt, then moving on to their ultimate wintering areas. This strategy is called “molt migration.”

What kind of bird is short billed dowitcher?

Short-billed Dowitcher | Audubon Field Guide The name of this species could be misleading: it is “short-billed” only by comparison to the Long-billed Dowitcher, and longer-billed than the average shorebird. Flocks of Short-billed Dowitchers wade in shallow water over coastal mudflats.

When was the short billed dowitcher first discovered?

The Short-billed Dowitcher’s nest and eggs eluded discovery until 1906, and even that information was overlooked for a long while because they were attributed to the Long-billed Dowitcher. The nesting grounds of the eastern subspecies ( griseus) of Short-billed Dowitcher were not discovered until the late 1950s.

What do short billed dowitchers do during the tides?

In saltwater environments, Short-billed Dowitchers feed most heavily during falling and rising tides, rapidly probing mudflats with their long bills in a sewing-machinelike motion. During highest and lowest tides, they rest and preen in flocks. During the breeding season, males make graceful song-flights over their territories.