Short-billed Dowitcher

Last evening on the way home from a weekend trip to Washington County I stopped at Minersville Reservoir west of Beaver. The reservoir is just a shallow puddle down by the dam. Very few birds were there, but a small flock of nine shorebirds included eight Pectoral Sandpipers and one Short-billed Dowitcher. I studied the bird for over an hour, watching it feed, fly, preen with wings extended. and interact with the pects. Winter plumaged dowitchers are a nightmare, but I was able to study the differences in tail banding, neck and breast smugging and streaking, and other suttle chacteristics that separate longs from shorts. If anyone gets down that way stop and take a look and see what you think. Take your shorebird study guides.