Dowitcher
{{short description|Genus of birds}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| 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{{cite web |url= https://www.aviansystematics.org/4th-edition-checklist?viewfamilies=63 |title= Alcidae |author= |date= |website= aviansystematics.org |publisher= The Trust for Avian Systematics |access-date= 2023-07-26}} = 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.{{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.
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.{{cite journal |last1=Thomas |first1=Gavin H. |last2=Wills |first2=Matthew A. |last3=Székely |first3=Tamás |year=2004 |title=A supertree approach to shorebird phylogeny |journal=BMC Evolutionary Biology |volume=4 |page=28 |id=28 |doi=10.1186/1471-2148-4-28 |pmid=15329156 |pmc=515296 |doi-access=free}} 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.{{ cite book | last=Wied-Neuwied | first=Maximilian | author-link=Prince Maximilian of Wied-Neuwied | title=Beiträge zur Naturgeschichte von Brasilien | year=1832 | volume=4, Part xx | language=German | location=Weimar | publisher= Im Verlage des Landes-Industrie-Comptoirs | page=716 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/2796910 }}{{ cite book | editor-last=Peters | editor-first=James Lee | editor-link=James L. Peters | year=1934 | title=Check-List of Birds of the World | volume=2 | publisher=Harvard University Press | place=Cambridge, Massachusetts | page=272 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14483085 }} The name combines the Ancient Greek limnē meaning "marsh" with -dromos meaning "-racer" or "-runner".{{cite book | last=Jobling | first=James A. | year=2010| title=The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | publisher=Christopher Helm | location=London | isbn=978-1-4081-2501-4 | page=227 | url=https://archive.org/stream/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling#page/n227/mode/1up }}
{{Species table |genus= Limnodromus |authority-name= Wied-Neuwied |authority-year= 1833|species-count=three|no-note=y|narrow-percent=75}}
{{Species table/row
|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)
}}
}}
{{Species table/row
|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=
}}
{{Species table/row
|name= Asian dowitcher |binomial=Limnodromus semipalmatus
|image=File:Asian Dowitcher 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=
}}
{{Species table/end}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{Cite NIE|wstitle=Dowitcher}}
{{Scolopacidae|2}}
{{Charadriiformes|S.|state=collapsed}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q838747}}