Long-billed Dowitcher

Limnodromus scolopaceus

The long-billed dowitcher is a medium-sized shorebird with a relatively long bill belonging to the sandpiper family, Scolopacidae. In breeding plumage, adults are characterized by a rufous head and underparts with a darker mottled back and a large white upper rump only seen in flight. They feed in various freshwater habitats with their bill underwater in a "sewing machine" motion and have a mating display where males chase females in flight. The genus, Limnodromus is Ancient Greek from limne, "marsh" and dromos, "racer". The specific scolopaceus is Neo-Latin for "snipe-like", from Latin scolopax, scolopacis, a snipe or woodcock. The English name is from Iroquois and was first recorded in 1841. Source

Where it is now

In the last 8 weeks this bird was recorded 3,702 times across 42 areas (each area is a 5 degree square).

See the Long-billed Dowitcher on the live map

Movement and weather

Each season it is first heard regularly where daytime highs are around 25°C (typically 19 to 26°C, from 9 areas).

Over the weeks it was present in the past year, its centre in North America ranged from 37°N in April to 54°N in October, about 1,900 km apart.

Arrival dates

The week it was first heard regularly in each region, after at least six weeks away. Dates differ from south to north, so a region has a range.

Download every area as CSV

Figures are effort corrected and come from automatic sound identification, which makes mistakes. How this is measured and how it compares with human observers.