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The short-billed dowitcher (''Limnodromus griseus''), like its congener the long-billed dowitcher, is a medium-sized, stocky, long-billed shorebird in the family Scolopacidae. It is an inhabitant of North America, Central America, and northern South America.〔 It is strongly migratory; it completely vacates in breeding areas during the snow-bound months.〔 This species favors a variety of habitats including tundra in the north to ponds and mudflats in the south. It feeds on invertebrates often by rapidly probing its bill into mud in a sewing machine fashion.〔 It and the very similar long-billed dowitcher were considered one species until 1950.〔 Field identification of the two American ''Limnodromus'' remains difficult today. Distinguishing wintering or juvenile short-billed dowitchers from the long-billed species is very difficult and, even given examination their subtlety different body shapes, cannot always be isolated to a particular species. They differ most substantially in vocalizations. The names of American dowitchers are misleading, as there is much overlap in their bill lengths.〔〔 Only a small percentage can be identified by this character alone.〔 ==Description== The body of adults is dark brown on top and reddish underneath. The tail has a black and white barred pattern. The legs are a yellowish color. There are three subspecies with slight variations in appearance: * ''L. g. griseus'' has a white belly and barred flanks. * ''L. g. hendersoni'' has a reddish belly and spotted flanks. * ''L. g. caurinus'' has a white belly with heavily barred flanks and densely spotted breast. None of these combines the reddish belly and barred flanks of the breeding plumage long-billed dowitcher. The winter plumage is largely grey. This bird can range from in length, in wingspan and in body mass.〔 The call of this bird is more mellow than that of the long-billed dowitcher, and is useful in identification, particularly of the difficult adult plumages. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Short-billed dowitcher」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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