Long-billed dowitcher | |
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Non-breeding adult | |
Breeding adult | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Charadriiformes |
Family: | Scolopacidae |
Genus: | Limnodromus |
Species: | L. scolopaceus
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Binomial name | |
Limnodromus scolopaceus (Say, 1822)
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Breeding range (orange), migration range (yellow), nonbreeding range (blue) | |
Synonyms | |
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The long-billed dowitcher (Limnodromus scolopaceus) is a medium-sized shorebird with a relatively long bill belonging to the sandpiper family, Scolopacidae. In breeding plumage, adults are characterized by a beautiful rufous head and underparts with a darker mottled back and a large white upper rump only seen in flight.[2][3][4] They feed in various freshwater habitats with their bill underwater in a "sewing machine" motion and are known to have an exciting mating display where males chase females in flight.[2] 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.[5] The English name is from Iroquois and was first recorded in 1841.[6]
The long-billed dowitcher is nearly identical in appearance to the short-billed dowitcher and was only recognized as a separate species in 1950 by Pitelka.[2] Between the two, the best distinguishing field mark is their flight call, especially in winter where both species are even more difficult to tell apart.[4] However, the two species differ ecologically in a few ways, starting with habitat and breeding location. Short-billeds prefer salt-water and breed primarily in southern Alaska and Yukon, as well as central Canada and the Maritime provinces, while long-billeds generally prefer freshwater and breed mainly from western and northern Alaska to eastern Siberia before migrating as far south as Mexico for the winter.[2]
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