Medium-sized shorebird with a long, football-shaped body and a long straight bill. Breeding birds have variable amounts of cinnamon coloring on their bodies. Feeds with a vertical, sewing-machine-like movement of the head.
Short-necked shorebird with a long bill. When foraging, looks flat-backed. Nonbreeding birds are brownish gray with barring on the flanks.
Forages by plunging its long bill deep into mud or sand, making a sewing-machine-like motion with its head. When it does this, the back usually appears fairly flat.
Juveniles have more extensive cinnamon color on the folded wings above the tail. Juveniles molt out of juvenile plumage on the wintering grounds, unlike Long-billed Dowitchers that molt on the breeding grounds.
In flight, white upper rump patch distinguishes it from many other shorebirds, except Long-billed Dowitchers.
Plumage color is geographically variable. Those migrating through eastern and central North America (hendersoni) have darker and more extensive cinnamon underparts.
Plumage color is geographically variable. Those migrating through eastern North American (griseus) have pale orangish breasts and whitish bellies.
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A chunky, medium-sized shorebird with a long, straight bill and moderately long legs.
Larger than a Lesser Yellowlegs, smaller than a Greater Yellowlegs.
robin-sizedThree subspecies, readily identified in breeding plumage but otherwise very similar, are caurinus (breeding in Alaska), hendersoni (central and western Canada), and griseus (northeastern Canada). During the breeding season, these subspecies are mostly geographically separate, but the ranges of griseus and hendersoni come into contact along the southwestern shore of Hudson Bay. Of these three subspecies, the western caurinus is the most heavily marked below in breeding plumage, almost as strongly marked as Long-billed Dowitcher, and shows orange tones below as far as the legs. The central hendersoni is very lightly marked below and shows beautiful orange tones well past the legs, recalling Red Knot in breeding plumage. The eastern griseus shows extensive spotting on the breast and bars on the flanks but very little color below, mostly paler buff-orange on the neck and upper breast.
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