America, the Long-billed dowitcher breeds mainly throughout western and northern Alaska along the coast from Hooper Bay to w. Mackenzie and south to the foothills of Brooks Range. In this range, while nesting it greatly prefers wet, grass or sedge freshwater meadows but it is also sometimes confined to marshes and will move to lakes, ponds, or estuaries to forage after nesting. In eastern Siberia it breeds from the lower Yana River to Chukotka Peninsula and Anadyr Lowlands with an apparent westward expansion in Russia, also commonly nesting along Bering Sea and inland along rivers draining into the East Arctic Sea of Siberia. Non-breeding During the non-breeding season, its range has been difficult to determine due to its similarity to Short-billed dowitchers in winter plumage, especially in areas where both species overlap in which case most birds are identified as "Dowitchers". Along the Pacific coast however, it winters in various locations from south-western British Columbia to Baja California, also moving inland to Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and south to Mexico. Along the Atlantic coast, it winters from North Carolina to Florida, also moving west along the Gulf Coast to Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. In the winter, this bird can be found in a much larger variety of habitats ranging from mudflats, flooded wetlands, wet meadows and fields to various lakes and marshes preferring water less than three inches deep. In general, Long-billed dowitchers seem to prefer fresh over salt water and muddy over sandy habitats in comparison to Short-billed dowitchers. Migration The long-billed dowitcher will migrate later in the fall than the short-billed dowitcher and earlier in the spring. The spring migrations occurs from February to May with birds moving up along the Pacific coast and interior. The long-billed dowitcher will also migrate through the Great Plains on the western side with a vast majority moving through Alberta. The fall migrations generally occurs from July to October with the adult long-billed dowitcher beginning to migrate south in July while juveniles begin migrating through September to October. From their breeding grounds the long-billed dowitcher will either migrate south along the Pacific Coast, across the Canadian Prairies and down the Great Basin or through Ontario towards Florida. Behaviour Diet and Foraging Long-billed dowitchers forage by jabbing or probing with a characteristic "sewing machine" motion in shallow water or on wet mud, often with their heads underwater and using tactile receptors on the