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Long-billed Dowitcher - Limnodromus scolopaceus

Characteristics
Range
Habitat
Diet
Life Cycle
Behavior

 Classification

 Phylum:
Chordata
 Class: Aves
 Order: Charadriiformes
 Family: Scolopacidae
 Genus: Limnodromus


Long-billed Dowitcher

ICUN Redlist - World Status: Least ConcernLeast Concern
    Audio Credit: xeno-canto.org Robin Carter cc logo
  Characteristics
Long-billed DowitcherThe long-billed dowitcher is 11-12 inches in length. It has a long, straight black bill; long, green legs; a white lower back and rump and white eyebrows. In the summer adults have reddish underparts and barring on their breasts and sides and reddish edges on the feathers on their uppersides. Winter dowitchers are gray. Males and females look alike, but the female is slightly larger and has a longer bill.

  Range
mapThe long-billed dowitcher breeds in western Alaska and northwestern Canada. It winters along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts from Washington and Virginia south to Mexico.



  Habitat
Long-billed DowitcherDuring breeding season, the long-billed dowitcher lives on the tundra. During migration and In the winter the long-billed dowitcher can be found on mudflats, marshes and at the edge of freshwater ponds and marshes.
  Diet
Long-billed DowitcherThe long-billed dowitcher uses its long bill to poke in the mud and find food. It looks like a sewing machine when it is feeding as its bill probes up and down. Its diet includes insect larvae, earthworms, crustaceans, moss, plant parts, seeds and snails.

  Life Cycle
The female long-billed dowitcher lays four eggs in a grass or leaf-lined nest on the ground. Both the male and female incubate the eggs. The female starts incubating the eggs while the male chases off intruders. Later, the male will take over and incubate the eggs up until the time they hatch three weeks after being laid. He will then take care of the chicks until they fledge.

  Behavior
The long-billed dowitcher is very aggressive in defending its territory.






 


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