Long-billed Dowitcher with unusual tail barring
3 May 1994, North Hultine WPA, Clay County. These images are digital photos of color prints, thus certain aspects of the image quality may appear odd.
Classic Long-billed Dowitcher with heavy, indistinct, spotting on the breast, neck, and face.
Again, heavy spotting on the breast, face and neck. The upperpart feathers are typical of spring Long-billed Dowitchers, which I also find helpful in IDing dowitchers. The white fringing found on the distal half of the upperpart feathers is distinctly separate from the dark orange fringing present at the proximal portion of the feathers. Short-billed Dowitchers upperpart feathers have brighter, orangy-goldish fringing that may (or may not) bleed into white at the feather tips. This is useless in fall when feathers are worn, and alway be wary of oddball birds.
Tail of one of the above Long-billed Dowitchers. It appears that the white and orange bars of the central tail feathers are WIDER than the black bars, contradicting what is found in the literature (although orange barring would suggest LBDO).
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