Long-billed Dowitcher

The Long-billed Dowitcher is extremely difficult to distinguish from its close relative,
the Short-billed Dowitcher. These two similar-looking species are best identified by
their distinct calls: Short-billed Dowitchers give a lower-pitched toodu or tututu call,
and Long-billed Dowitchers give a loud, high-pitched keek alarm call that is occa-
sionally given in series. Long-bills generally prefer freshwater habitats, including
flooded fields, small ponds, reservoir edges and sewage lagoons, while Short-bills pre-
fer brackish marshes and tidal mudflats.
Reifel Island, Burnaby Lake, Blackie Spit and the sewage lagoons on Iona Island are
good places to look for foraging flocks of Long-billed Dowitchers, particularly in
October. They probe shallow water and mudflats with an up-down "stitching" motion
as they search for invertebrates such as insects, mollusks and freshwater shrimp.

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