The legs are a yellowish color. The three subspecies have 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. Distribution and habitat The breeding habitat of the short-billed dowitcher includes bogs, tidal marshes, mudflats or forest clearings south of the tree line in northern North America. L. g. griseus breeds in northern Quebec; L. g. hendersoni breeds in north central Canada; L. g. caurinus breeds in southern Alaska and southern Yukon. The birds migrate to the southern United States and as far south as Brazil. This bird is more likely to be seen near ocean coasts during migration than the long-billed dowitcher. This species occurs in western Europe only as an extremely rare vagrant. Behavior and ecology Breeding These birds nest on the ground, usually near water. Their nests are shallow depressions in clumps of grass or moss, which are lined with fine grasses, twigs and leaves. They lay four, sometimes three, olive-buff to brown eggs. Incubation lasts for 21 days and is done by both sexes. The downy juvenile birds leave the nest soon after hatching. Parental roles are not well known, but it is believed the female departs and leaves the male to tend the chicks, which find all their own food. Food and feeding These birds forage by probing in shallow water or on wet mud. They mainly eat insects, mollusks, crustaceans and marine worms, but also eat some plant material. References External links Short-billed Dowitcher - Limnodromus griseus - USGS Patuxent Bird Identification InfoCenter Short-billed dowitcher species account - Cornell Lab of Ornithology Short-billed dowitcher, Cape Jourimain Nature Centre Limnodromus Native birds of Alaska Birds of Canada Birds of Hispaniola Birds of the Dominican Republic Shorebirds Birds described in 1789 Taxa named by Johann Friedrich Gmelin