Date: 3/19/13 9:33 am
From: <Jlstasz...>
Subject: [MDBirding] It's March- Dowitchers and Snipe


Hi Folks!

Migration is underway and birds that You haven't seen for a few months are
reappearing. March is the time for the first push of dowitchers and snipe.
All are superficially similar long-billed, short-legged shorebirds that
probe for tasty morsels.

Wilson's Snipe will occur throughout the region wherever there is a wet
meadow, marsh or muddy shoreline. Pools in cornstubble fields are great
places to look. Typically You will be startled when one flushes a few feet away
and zigzags away giving a sn-ick call. On the ground they are easily
distinguished by the white stipes down the back, bpld face pattern and lots of
dark flank stripes contrasting with a white belly.

Both Long-billed Dowitchers and Short-billed Dowitchers occur in March.
Wintering Long-bills are still in their usual haunts in the coastal marshes of
Worcester, Somerset and Dorchester counties. Look for them at Truitt's
Landing in Worcester, Fairmont WMA and along Rumbley Point Road in Somerset,
and the Bestpitch Marsh in Dorchester. Short-billed Dowitchers are just
arriving on their way north and will occur in the same locations as
Long-bills. Any dowitcher on the Westeren Shore of Chesapeake Bay or on the Eastern
Shore north of Dorchester County needs to be carefully documented.

Dowitchers pose special problems for identification as is evidenced by
longish discussions in field guides, individual identification articles in
periodicals,and their inclusion in advanced birding guides. Making thoings
even more difficult is the time of year....dowitchers are beginning to molt
from basic Winter plumage to alternate breeding plumage. Males and females and
older and younger birds will molt at different rates. A few years ago I
noted that among the Long-billed Dowitchers, the males were further along in
molt than the females.

In Maryland we should expect the first Short-bills to be of the Atlantic
type: Limnodromus griseus griseus which have a rufous breast and white
bellies in breeding plumage.

I will not try to repeat what can better be found elsewhere, but will note
a few things where You need to use care:

(1) bill length: in all dowitchers, males have shorter bills than females
(2) structure: some guides suggest that Long-bills look fat with rounded
backs (swallowed a coconut) and Short-bills are slimmer with flat backs. In
no case can this be used as the only diagnostic feature, especially when
birds are in body molt!
(3) voice: "keek" is disagnostic for Long-bill and "tu-tu-tu" for
Short-bills

If You really don't want to bother, I will lend You my first Peterson Field
Guide. It has only Dowitcher because it predates the split. If You do
want to bother I predict that Short-billed Dowitcher will be split into 3
species: Atlantic (griseus), Prairie (hendersoni) and Pacific (caurinus).

Good Birding!

Jim

Jim Stasz
North Beach MD
jlstasz

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