Dowitcher
| Dowitchers | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Long-billed dowitcher | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Charadriiformes |
| Family: | Scolopacidae |
| Genus: | Limnodromus Wied-Neuwied, 1833 |
| Species | |
|
See text. | |
The three dowitchers are medium-sized long-billed wading birds in the genus Limnodromus. The genus name is Ancient Greek from limne, "marsh" and dromos, "racer".[1] The English name is from Iroquois. 1841[2]
They resemble godwits in body and bill shape, and the reddish underparts in summer, but are much shorter legged, more like snipe to which they are also somewhat 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.
The dowitcher species are:
- Short-billed dowitcher, Limnodromus griseus
- Long-billed dowitcher, Limnodromus scolopaceus
- Asiatic dowitcher, Limnodromus semipalmatus
References
- ↑ Jobling, James A (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 227. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
- ↑ "Dowitcher". Oxford English Dictionary (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press. September 2005. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- ↑ Thomas, Gavin H.; Wills, Matthew A. & Székely, Tamás (2004): "A supertree approach to shorebird phylogeny".BMC Evol. Biol. 4: 28. doi:10.1186/1471-2148-4-28 PMID 15329156 Supplementary Material
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