Any help greatly appreciated for id of these waders in stills from holiday video Sanibel Island Florida 17th April 2012. Possibly Willets in the main with a dowitcher of some kind in the foreground and maybe a different one in picture No. 1 upper left edge of shot.
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Waders, Florida USA (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Wiganlad
- Start date
I don't see anything other than Willets and Dowitchers here. I'd favour Short-billed for the dowitchers but I'm not certain.
tom baxter
Well-known member
From the dowitchers that I can see a good representation of their heads, bills and body shape they all look like Long-billed in my opinion. There are far more that I can’t tell but it’s likely that they’re mostly Long-billed if you ask me.
ovenbird43
Well-known member
Yes, Short-billed Dowitchers are far more common on salt water. To me, these look good for Short-billed - flat-backed body structure and a subtle kink in the bill visible on some birds.
tom baxter
Well-known member
I’m not convinced that these are short-billed. Funny you’d refer to seeing a kinked bill on some birds when the absence of that is one of the specific things I am not seeing to make a case for short-billed. As a matter of fact the last picture on the left hand side shows a bird that has a perfectly straight thin and very long looking bill. I also see all of these birds as being round bodied and hunch backed. I know that none of these characteristics are diagnostic alone but I see them consistently through all of the birds in the flock. Additionally long-billed in April at ding darling refuge are abundant I am not completely sure but I still lean with my original impression.
I checked eBird for Ding Darling NWR and it shows both species occurring in April but Short-billed as abundant and much more common than Long-billed.
https://ebird.org/barchart?r=L127397&byr=1900&eyr=2018&m=4
I'm really glad to have to US guys helping me out here but I wonder if anyone else can help you two out!! That middle bird of the 3 on the left of the flock in image 4 does seem to have a really long bill compared to the ones in front and behind it (shown in images 2 and 3) and also compared to the bird far left separate from the main group in image one. Could they be a mixed flock?
Females have longer bills than males in both species. Yes, it's possible that both species are present, but Long-billed should stand out by having contrasting white scapular tips in fresh plumage. I'm not seeing that here. The best way to separate the two regardless of plumage is by call. When in doubt "Short-billed/Long-billed Dowitcher is appropriate and recommended.
