Dowitcher Identification: is it Short-billed or Long-billed?
I did not hear this dowitcher call. My identification is tentative and was based on features visible in my photographs of the bird. First, the side of the breast is spotted, not barred. Second, the lower belly is white. Third, the eye is high on the head (not straight behind the bill). Fourth, the bill is relatively short, stout, and slightly downcurved over its distal one-third.
The photograph was taken from the boardwalk over the salt marsh at the World Birding Center on South Padre Island. Three days earlier we had encountered shorebirds in breeding plumage on freshwater marshes of Santa Ana NWR. These included the female Wilson's Phalarope and the heavily barred Stilt Sandpiper.
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Last updated 11/20/2021
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