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Dowitchers, Florida, USA (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter RogerO'T
- Start date
Larry Lade
Moderator
Not sure about Florida, but here in Missouri any dowitcher seen here in October is almost certainly a Long-billed Dowitcher (because the Short-billed migrate earlier than the Long-billed and have aready passed through).
* The bills do look pretty long on your birds too!
* The bills do look pretty long on your birds too!
grebefeet9
elegant tern of phrase
generally, long-billed prefers fresh and water, while short billed-prefers salt. this is not absolute, and of course there will be overlap in brackish water. the flight call is diagnostic.
Larry Lade
Moderator
RogerO'T, I assume the photo was taken at a fresh water pond/lake. Is that correct?
Hi Larry, The photo was taken at Merrit Island NWR...I ID'd them as Short-billed at the time, but Dowitchers are never easy!
Larry Lade
Moderator
Given that the location was Merritt Island and the fact that some of the birds show patterned tertials, I concede that these are Short-billed Dowitchers.
