Long-billed Dowitcher

Breeding begins when birds arrive on the Arctic tundra as the snow melts, typically in late May or early June. The nest is placed on the ground, usually near water, often on or at the base of a raised tussock or hummock in wet sedge meadow or marsh vegetation. The nest itself is a deep cup set in a depression in marsh grasses or moss, lined with grasses, sedges, and small leaves; the base of the cup is often damp. The interior measures approximately 11.4 cm across and 5.6 cm deep.

The clutch is typically four eggs — oval to pear-shaped, light olive-greenish or bluish, and heavily splotched with varying shades of brown, with markings densest at the large end and underlying marks of dark grey. Eggs measure approximately 4.2–4.3 cm long by 2.9–3.1 cm wide. Both sexes share incubation initially, but the later stages are handled mostly or entirely by the male. The incubation period is 20–22 days.

Chicks are precocial and leave the nest within a day of the last egg hatching. They are not fed by their parents and find all their own food from the outset. The female reportedly departs around the time the eggs hatch, leaving the male to tend the young until they are close to fledging at approximately 20–30 days. Each pair raises a single brood per year.

Courtship is driven by the male's song flight: he hovers approximately 15 metres above his territory on trembling, raised wings while delivering the "pee-witch-er" breeding song. The appearance of a female triggers aerial pursuit by two or three singing males, who fly with speed and agility. Despite this territorial display, pairs from neighbouring territories often feed together on shared ponds without conflict.

The Long-billed Dowitcher is a moderately long-lived shorebird, with a typical lifespan of five to eight years in the wild. The oldest individual on record survived to at least 8 years and 3–4 months, based on ringing data. This longevity is broadly comparable to other medium-sized Scolopacid waders, though it falls short of the exceptional ages recorded in larger shorebirds such as godwits and curlews.

Annual survival rates are not well documented for this species, partly because its remote Arctic breeding grounds make long-term ringing studies difficult. As with most migratory shorebirds, the first year of life — encompassing the first southward migration and first winter — is likely the period of highest mortality. Juveniles must navigate thousands of kilometres of unfamiliar terrain without the benefit of prior experience, and many fail to reach their first breeding season.

Key mortality factors include predation at all stages of the annual cycle, weather events on migration, and the cumulative physiological demands of long-distance travel. The species' current population decline — with more than 50% of individuals lost over the past 50 years — suggests that mortality rates are outpacing recruitment, though the precise demographic mechanisms driving this trend are not yet fully understood. Some first-year birds remain on the wintering grounds through summer without returning to breed, which may reflect a strategy of deferring the costs of migration until body condition is sufficient.

The Long-billed Dowitcher is currently listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List (2024 assessment), having been uplisted from Least Concern as evidence of population decline has accumulated. The global population is estimated at approximately 650,000 individuals (Partners in Flight, 2017), with some earlier estimates placing the figure closer to 500,000.

The picture painted by recent monitoring is stark. The 2025 State of the Birds report (USA) designated the Long-billed Dowitcher an Orange Alert Tipping Point species — meaning it has lost more than 50% of its population in the past 50 years, with declines accelerating within the most recent decade. BirdLife International notes a population reduction approaching threatened thresholds, with a suspected decline of approximately 20% over three generations, and projects that the rate of decline will continue at least one generation length into the future (to 2028).

The primary threats are loss and degradation of freshwater wetland habitats — particularly the shallow, temporary wetlands that the species relies on at key points in its annual cycle — along with pollution and environmental contaminants affecting wetland quality. Climate change poses a growing threat to both Arctic breeding grounds and wintering wetlands. Historical over-hunting in the late 19th and early 20th centuries contributed to earlier declines, though legal protection has since allowed some recovery. The drivers of current declines are not fully understood, and targeted research into the species' migratory connectivity and wintering ecology is urgently needed.

Courtship on the Arctic breeding grounds is driven primarily by the male's song flight — one of the more striking displays of any shorebird. The male rises to approximately 15 metres above his territory and hovers on trembling, raised wings, holding position in the air while delivering the pee-witch-er song in a sustained performance. This hovering display serves both to attract females and to advertise territorial ownership to rival males.

When a female appears, the dynamic shifts immediately: two or three males break from their hovering displays and pursue her in fast, agile aerial chases, calling loudly throughout. These pursuits can be prolonged and energetic, with males demonstrating flight speed and manoeuvrability. Once a pair bond forms, the male continues to defend the territory through song flight rather than overt aggression — and despite this territorial signalling, neighbouring pairs often feed together on shared ponds without conflict, suggesting that the defended resource is primarily the nest site rather than the foraging area.

After mating, both sexes share incubation duties initially. The female's investment in the breeding attempt decreases as incubation progresses, and she reportedly departs around the time the eggs hatch, leaving the male to brood and tend the precocial chicks until they are close to fledging at 20–30 days. This pattern of female departure before fledging is unusual among shorebirds and means that the male bears the full cost of chick-rearing — a significant investment given the short Arctic summer and the demands of the subsequent southward migration.

Separating Long-billed from Short-billed Dowitcher is one of the most discussed identification challenges in North American shorebird watching — and for good reason. In winter plumage, the two species are essentially identical in the field: both are plain grey above, white below, with the same white rump patch, the same supercilium, and the same sewing-machine feeding action. Even experienced observers regularly leave dowitchers unidentified when they fail to call.

Voice is the definitive separator. The Long-billed gives a high, sharp keek! — a single, piercing note. The Short-billed gives a lower, softer, more liquid tu-tu-tu. These calls are genuinely different once learned, and the difference is apparent even on a recording. In breeding plumage, the Long-billed shows black bars on the breast and flanks, while the Short-billed shows spots or chevrons. The Long-billed's belly is also typically more uniformly rufous in fresh breeding plumage, whereas the Short-billed often shows a paler, spotted belly.

Bill length is an unreliable field mark: while female Long-billed Dowitchers do have impressively long bills, male Long-billed bills often overlap in length with those of Short-billed Dowitchers of either sex. Habitat preference offers a supporting clue — Long-billed strongly favours freshwater over saltwater, while Short-billed is more tolerant of tidal flats and saltmarsh. Flock behaviour is also useful: Long-billed flocks twitter constantly while feeding; Short-billed flocks are generally silent. In the UK, the identification question is largely academic — any dowitcher found in Britain is almost certainly a Long-billed, given the extreme rarity of Short-billed in Europe.