Dowitcher
Genus of birds
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The three dowitchers are medium-sized long-billed wading birds in the genus Limnodromus. The English name "dowitcher" is from Iroquois, recorded in English by the 1830s.[2]
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| Dowitcher | |
|---|---|
| |
| Short-billed dowitcher (Limnodromus griseus) | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Charadriiformes |
| Family: | Scolopacidae |
| Subfamily: | Scolopacinae |
| Genus: | Limnodromus Wied-Neuwied, 1833 |
| Type species | |
| Scolopax noveboracensis[1] = Scolopax grisea Gmelin. JF, 1789 | |
| Species | |
|
See text. | |
They resemble godwits in body and bill shape, and the reddish underparts in summer, but are much shorter legged, more like snipes, to which they are more closely related.[3] All three are strongly migratory.
The two North American species are difficult to separate in most plumages, and were considered a single species for many years. The Asian bird is rare and not well known.
Taxonomy
The genus Limnodromus was introduced in 1833 by the German naturalist Prince Maximilian of Wied-Neuwied to accommodate a single species, the short-billed dowitcher.[4][5] The name combines the Ancient Greek limnē meaning "marsh" with -dromos meaning "-racer" or "-runner".[6]
The dowitcher species are:[7]
| Common name | Scientific name and subspecies | Range | Size and ecology | IUCN status and estimated population |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Short-billed dowitcher
|
Limnodromus griseus (Gmelin, JF, 1789) |
North America, Central America, the Caribbean, and northern South America |
Size: Habitat: Diet: |
VU
|
| Long-billed dowitcher
|
Limnodromus scolopaceus (Say, 1822) |
North America |
Size: Habitat: Diet: |
NT
|
| Asian dowitcher
|
Limnodromus semipalmatus (Blyth, 1848) |
Siberia and Manchuria. | Size: Habitat: Diet: |
NT
|
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