Dowitcher

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Genus of birds

title: "Dowitcher" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["limnodromus", "bird-genera"] description: "Genus of birds" topic_path: "general/limnodromus" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dowitcher" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Genus of birds ::

| image = Short-billed dowitcher in JBWR (40844).jpg | image_caption = Short-billed dowitcher (Limnodromus griseus) | taxon = Limnodromus | authority = Wied-Neuwied, 1833 | type_species = Scolopax noveboracensis = Scolopax grisea | type_species_authority = Gmelin. JF, 1789 | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = See text.

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.

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. 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. The name combines the Ancient Greek limnē meaning "marsh" with -dromos meaning "-racer" or "-runner".

The dowitcher species are:

|name=Short-billed dowitcher |binomial=Limnodromus griseus |image=File:Short-billed dowitcher in JBWR (40844).jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt= |authority-name=Gmelin, JF |authority-year=1789 |authority-not-original=yes |range= North America, Central America, the Caribbean, and northern South America |range-image=File:Limnodromus griseus map.svg |range-image-size=180px |size= |habitat= |hunting= |iucn-status= VU |population= |direction= |subspecies={{Collapsible list |expand=yes |title=Three subspecies |bullets=on | L. g. caurinus Pitelka, 1950 | L. g. hendersoni Rowan, 1932 | L. g. griseus (Gmelin, JF, 1789)

|name=Long-billed dowitcher |binomial=Limnodromus scolopaceus |image=File:Dowitcher TX1985 & Cattail Marsh & Anahuac NWR TX 2018-04-24 10-20-37 (41168366985).jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt= |authority-name=Say |authority-year=1822 |authority-not-original=yes |range= North America |range-image=File:Limnodromus scolopaceus map.svg |range-image-size=180px |size= |habitat= |hunting= |iucn-status= NT |population= |direction= |subspecies=

|name= Asian dowitcher |binomial=Limnodromus semipalmatus |image=File:Asian Dowitcher, Dayuan, Taoyuan County, Taiwan 6436.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt= |authority-name=Blyth |authority-year=1848 |authority-not-original=yes |range= Siberia and Manchuria. |range-image= |range-image-size=180px |size= |habitat= |hunting= |iucn-status= NT |population= |direction= |subspecies=

References

References

  1. . ["Alcidae"](https://www.aviansystematics.org/4th-edition-checklist?viewfamilies=63). *The Trust for Avian Systematics*.
  2. {{Cite OED. Dowitcher The OED's earliest example is from 1841, but full-text searching gives results that suggest it was already in common use by the mid-1830s.
  3. (2004). "A supertree approach to shorebird phylogeny". BMC Evolutionary Biology.
  4. Wied-Neuwied, Maximilian. (1832). "Beiträge zur Naturgeschichte von Brasilien". Im Verlage des Landes-Industrie-Comptoirs.
  5. (1934). "Check-List of Birds of the World". Harvard University Press.
  6. Jobling, James A.. (2010). "The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names". Christopher Helm.
  7. (August 2022). "Sandpipers, snipes, coursers". International Ornithologists' Union.

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