Uploaded May 2020 | Updated September 2026, 3 days ago
The long-billed dowitcher is a medium sized shorebird.
It is 11-12 inches in length. It has a long, straight black bill. Long green- yellowish legs. A white lower back and rump, and white eyebrows. In the summer adults have reddish underparts, bars on their breasts and sides, and reddish edges on the feathers on their upper sides. Winter dowitchers are gray.
Their bills are full of nerve endings, which are useful for sensing prey. They walk along slowly, lifting their heads up and down like a sewing machine.
Although, both sexes share incubation of the eggs, only the male takes care of the young once they hatch.
Chicks are able to walk immediately and leave the nest when all have hatched.
The long-billed dowitcher is only half well-named :females usually do have a bill that is impressively longer than Short-billed dowitchers, but males often do not.
The long-billed dowitcher is a medium sized shorebird.
It is 11-12 inches in length. It has a long, straight black bill. Long green- yellowish legs. A white lower back and rump, and white eyebrows. In the summer adults have reddish underparts, bars on their breasts and sides, and reddish edges on the feathers on their upper sides. Winter dowitchers are gray.
Their bills are full of nerve endings, which are useful for sensing prey. They walk along slowly, lifting their heads up and down like a sewing machine.
Although, both sexes share incubation of the eggs, only the male takes care of the young once they hatch.
Chicks are able to walk immediately and leave the nest when all have hatched.
The long-billed dowitcher is only half well-named :females usually do have a bill that is impressively longer than Short-billed dowitchers, but males often do not.
