The Long and Short of Dowitchers

Here in South -eastern Ontario if you see a Dowitcher it's almost certain to be of the Short-billed kind.
For the 4 years that I have been birding, I have tried unsuccessfully to add a Long-billed Dowitcher to my life list. Not that I haven't seen any - I'm sure that I must have - just that any identification of distant, often backlit shorebirds can be difficult, and making and identification of Long-billed in this region where they are uncommon, can be risky.


The Long-billed Dowitcher breeds in the high Arctic and migrates mostly on the west coast and through the centre of the continent. If I happened to be living in British Columbia, the situation would be quite different - I would be assuming that they were Long-billed being insecure about calling a short-billed.

The Short-billed Dowitcher breeds much further south in the mosquito infested muskegs of northern Alberta and Saskatchewan, on the south shore of Alaska and just south of Hudson's Bay in the East. There are 3 described subspecies of Short-billed Dowitcher and without being an expert, I can assume that most that pass through the Quinte area would be from the Eastern subspecies.

The Short Billed Dowitcher is one of the least studied of shorebirds. Because of the inaccessibility of the nesting areas, the location of the breeding areas were not discovered until 1906 and even today, it takes great courage to deal with the mosquitoes and blackflies that characterize their breeding habitat.

The two Dowitchers also have different preferences for their wintering habitats. Short-billed are usually found on the coasts in salt water or brackish estuaries while the Long-billed congregates on interior fresh water ponds.

All of the above information was obtained from the traditional bird information web sites like Cornell and Wikipedia ... typically the source of most knowledge. What was interesting, however, is that nowhere could I find a simple comparison outlining the differences in a way that a novice like me could understand. The most typical statement was that they are 'extremely similar and difficult to distinguish in most plumages'.

 So which of these shorebirds is a Long-billed Dowitcher and which is Short-billed?

See what I mean by being extremely difficult to distinguish?

The definitive characteristic is the voice - both alarm calls and flight calls are quite different. but  what if the birds are not vocalizing?

Experienced birders can spot the subtle difference in body shape and posture but I needed simple field marks for a novice.

Bill length you say!!!  Short and Long that must be the difference. The guides caution against using this mark. As an overall population, Long-billed Dowitchers have longer bills than Short-billed Dowitchers - makes sense - but there is considerable overlap. Long-billed at the short end (mostly males) can have shorter bills than Short-billed at the long end (mostly females) and vice versa.

Bill shape. Short-billed are supposed to have a slightly curved bill while Long-billed are straighter - but not always.

So is there a foolproof way to separate these problematic species?

The standard field guides are of little help, they gloss over the subject and give no real distinctive differences. This paper on the subject is just as obtuse. The position of the eye on the Short-billed tends to be higher than the Long-billed but not in all cases as there is considerable overlap and so it goes on. To complicate matters, the basic plumage that we expect during the fall migration is even more similar than the alternate and juvenal plumages.

So it was with some anticipation as I waded across to Gull Island in Presqu'ile Provincial Park last Sunday I passed 2 birders wading in the opposite direction who said that there was a Long-billed Dowitcher on the island. When I got there the first person that I met was a familiar birder who confirmed the presence of a Long-billed in a small pond in the centre of the island. Good news except that birder was very uncertain about the identity of what turned out to be a Short-billed a week before. How could he be so sure this time. I wondered if it is possible that once an identification is broadcast through the assembled, less experienced birders like myself just assume that the majority must be right. Of course there are a few birders that are so good that one would never doubt them.

As I looked ad the lone bird in the small shallow pond, there was no way that I could know for sure so I took some pictures and tried to ID at home.

Long-billed Dowitcher - Gull Island, Presqu'ile Park

Short-billed Dowitcher - Owen Point, Presqu'ile Park

This was really difficult. As in the article above, there is so much variation in different moults and ages and so much overlap that this must be one of the classic birding identification challenges. My personal conclusion is that it comes down to instinct and 'impression'. In all cases the tertiaries of the Short-billed are more distinctly edged (sometimes referred to as 'tiger striped') where the Long-billed is greyer and more uniform. Also the chest and flanks of the Short-billed are more spotty while the Long-billed is more of an even wash. The impression of the Short-billed is more 'scaly' while the Long-billed is like a lens slightly out of focus.

Such subtle differences require a good look in good light so mistakes will be made.

I was finally able to come to my own conclusion that this was indeed a Long-billed Dowitcher and add number 243 to my list of photographed birds.

Some other Dowitcher pictures to enjoy.

Short-billed Dowitcher with Semi-palmated Sandpiper

Long-billed Dowitcher

Where the species have such a similar appearance on has to wonder why they are separate species at all? There is just as much variation between the three subspecies of Short-billed as between any Short-billed subspecies and Long-billed. The subject of species lumping and splitting by the AOU drives birders crazy but species are defined by attributes other than appearance.

Long and Short-billed have different nesting locations, different migrations, different winter habitats and different calls - all of which prevent interbreeding. Also their DNA difference is sufficient to define them as species (in the opinion of the AOU).

So finally I have defeated another nemesis and I'm sure that there will now be many more Long-billed Dowitcher photographs in my collection.