Dowitcher | |
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Short-billed dowitcher (Limnodromus griseus) | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Charadriiformes |
Family: | Scolopacidae |
Subfamily: | Scolopacinae |
Genus: | Limnodromus Wied-Neuwied, 1833 |
Type species | |
Scolopax noveboracensis[1] = Scolopax grisea Gmelin. JF, 1789
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Species | |
See text. |
The three dowitchers are medium-sized long-billed wading birds in the genus Limnodromus. The English name "dowitcher" is from Iroquois, recorded in English by the 1830s.[2]
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.[3] All three are strongly 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.