Long or Short Billed Dowitcher, FL (1 Viewer)

[Vipers]

These photos were taken of a flock of Dowitchers feeding on the shore at Fort de Soto, Florida. Can anyone please confirm if they are Long or Short Billed or both?

 

[smiths]

They are Short-billed Dowitchers, Gary: relatively pale breast, pale flanks, prominent whitish fringes on wing coverts, no obvious dark marks on scapulars, relatively flat back.

 

[Kratter]

The default dowitcher at Ft. DeSoto is Short-billed, especially after migration has ended. Identifying silent winter plumage dowitchers in the filed is near impossible, although there are some tendencies, such as those mentioned by smiths.

Andy

 

[tom baxter]

My understanding:

One clinching ID point (which is often not even visible) is the kink at the tip of the bill. Long-billed dowitchers bills are perfectly straight, so if you can see the kink you can call it a short-billed. This method is a bit subjective but can be used in these photos I think. That way you can sometimes tell if you have a short-billed but the other way around, identifying long-billed dowitchers, is more difficult in my opinion.

 

[shropshirelad63]

The more i look at Dowitchers the more confused i get, i,d have said these were long billed, these pics are put up as Short Billed-note the markings on the primaries

 

[Kratter]

The more i look at Dowitchers the more confused i get, i,d have said these were long billed, these pics are put up as Short Billed-note the markings on the primaries

Those are juvenile Short-billed. The long visible dark feathers with rufous markings are tertials not primaries. Shorebirds often have very long tertials. Short-billed Dowitcher has rufous interior markings on these feathers: Long-billed has rufous only on the feather edges. These are the easiest to ID. BAsic plumage is another story.