Short-billed Dowitcher

The short-billed dowitcher is a medium-sized shorebird with a bill twice as long as its head. It has moderately long, pale legs. Juvenile plumage includes a buffy chest and flanks, less spotting and barring than breeding adults. The back feathers are dark-centered with broad buffy edges, which give the bird a slightly scaly appearance. The innermost flight feathers on a bird's wing, known as the tertials, are dark with orange pattern inside which is referred to as tiger-striped.

References cited in Species Profile

• Brown, S., C. Hickey, B. Harrington, and R.Gill, eds. 2001. United States Shorebird Conservation Plan, 2nd ed. Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences, Manomet, MA.
• Szalay, F., D. Helmers, D. Humbug. S.J. Lewis, B. Pardo, and M. Shieldcastle. 2000. Upper Mississippi Valley/Great Lakes Regional Shorebird Conservation Plan. Version 1.0. In U.S. Shorebird Conservation Plan. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.
• Kreitinger, K. 2013. Short-billed Dowitcher (Limnodromus griseus). Wisconsin All-Bird Conservation Plan.
• Cornell Lab of Ornithology. 2015. Short-billed Dowitcher. All About Birds.
• Jehl, Jr., Joseph R., Joanna Klima and Ross E. Harris. 2001. Short-billed Dowitcher (Limnodromus griseus), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology; Retrieved from the Birds of North America Online.
• Howe, M. A., P. H. Geissler, and B. Harrington. 1989. Population trends of North American shorebirds based on the International Shorebird Survey. Biol. Conserv. 49:185-199.