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Limnodromus
The three dowitchers are medium-sized long-billed wader, wading birds in the genus ''Limnodromus''. The English name "dowitcher" is from Iroquois, recorded in English by the 1830s. The OED's earliest example is from 1841, but full-text searching gives results that suggest it was already in common use by the mid-1830s. They resemble godwits in body and bill shape, and the reddish underparts in summer, but are much shorter legged, more like snipes, to which they are more closely related. All three are strongly bird migration, migratory. The two North American species are difficult to separate in most plumages, and were considered a single species for many years. The Asian bird is rare and not well known. Taxonomy The genus ''Limnodromus'' was introduced in 1833 by the German naturalist Prince Maximilian of Wied-Neuwied to accommodate a single species, the short-billed dowitcher. The name combines the Ancient Greek ''limnē'' meaning "marsh" with ''-dromos'' meaning "-racer" or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Short-billed Dowitcher
The short-billed dowitcher (''Limnodromus griseus''), like its congener the long-billed dowitcher, is a medium-sized, stocky, long-billed shorebird in the family Scolopacidae. It is an inhabitant of North America, Central America, the Caribbean, and northern South America. It is strongly migratory; it completely vacates in breeding areas during the snow-bound months. This species favors a variety of habitats including tundra in the north to ponds and mudflats in the south. It feeds on invertebrates often by rapidly probing its bill into mud in a sewing machine fashion. It and the very similar long-billed dowitcher were considered one species until 1950. Field identification of the two American ''Limnodromus'' remains difficult today. Distinguishing wintering or juvenile short-billed dowitchers from the long-billed species is very difficult and, even given examination their subtlety different body shapes, cannot always be isolated to a particular species. They differ most substan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
