# Dowitcher > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Dowitcher > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Dowitcher.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dowitcher > Source revision: 1354276164 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{short description|Genus of birds}} {{Use British English|date=May 2026}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2026}} {{Automatic taxobox | image = Short-billed dowitcher in JBWR (40844).jpg | image_caption = [Short-billed dowitcher](/source/Short-billed_dowitcher) (''Limnodromus griseus'') | taxon = Limnodromus | authority = [Wied-Neuwied](/source/Prince_Maximilian_of_Wied-Neuwied), 1833 | type_species = ''[Scolopax noveboracensis](/source/Short-billed_dowitcher)''{{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](/source/Johann_Friedrich_Gmelin), 1789 | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = }} The three '''dowitchers ''' are medium-sized long-billed [wading](/source/wader) [bird](/source/bird)s in the [genus](/source/genus) '''''Limnodromus'''''. The English name "dowitcher" is from [Iroquois](/source/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 [godwit](/source/godwit)s in body and bill shape, and the reddish underparts in summer, but are much shorter legged, more like [snipe](/source/snipe)s, 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](/source/bird_migration). The two [North America](/source/North_America)n species are difficult to separate in most plumages, and were considered a single species for many years. The [Asia](/source/Asia)n bird is rare and not well known. ==Taxonomy== The genus ''Limnodromus'' was introduced in 1833 by the German naturalist [Prince Maximilian of Wied-Neuwied](/source/Prince_Maximilian_of_Wied-Neuwied) to accommodate a single species, the [short-billed dowitcher](/source/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](/source/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 }} The dowitcher species are:{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela Rasmussen | date=August 2022 | title=Sandpipers, snipes, coursers | work=IOC World Bird List Version 12.2 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/sandpipers/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=6 November 2022}} {{Species table |genus= Limnodromus |authority-name= [Wied-Neuwied](/source/Prince_Maximilian_of_Wied-Neuwied) |authority-year= 1833|species-count=three|no-note=y|narrow-percent=75}} {{Species table/row |name=[Short-billed dowitcher](/source/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](/source/Frank_Pitelka), 1950 | ''L. g. hendersoni'' [Rowan](/source/William_Rowan_(biologist)), 1932 | ''L. g. griseus'' (Gmelin, JF, 1789) }} }} {{Species table/row |name=[Long-billed dowitcher](/source/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](/source/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= }} {{Species table/end}} ==References== {{Reflist}} ==External links== * {{Cite NIE|wstitle=Dowitcher}} {{Scolopacidae|2}} {{Charadriiformes|S.|state=collapsed}} {{Taxonbar|from=Q838747}} * Category:Bird genera --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Dowitcher](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dowitcher) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dowitcher?action=history)). 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