The long-billed dowitcher (Limnodromus scolopaceus) is a medium-sized shorebird with a relatively long bill belonging to the sandpiper family, Scolopacidae. In breeding plumage, adults are characterized by a beautiful rufous head and underparts with a darker mottled back and a large white upper rump only seen in flight. They feed in various freshwater habitats with their bill underwater in a "sewing machine" motion and are known to have an exciting mating display where males chase females in flight. The genus, Limnodromus is Ancient Greek from limne, "marsh" and dromos, "racer". The specific scolopaceus is New Latin for "snipe-like", from Latin scolopax, scolopacis, a snipe or woodcock. The English name is from Iroquois and was first recorded in 1841. The Long-billed dowitcher is nearly identical in appearance to the Short-billed dowitcher and was only recognized as a separate species in 1950 by Pitelka. Between the two, the best distinguishing field mark is their flight call, especially in winter where both species are even more difficult to tell apart. However, the two species differ ecologically in a few ways, starting with habitat and breeding location. Short-billeds prefer salt-water and breed primarily in southern Alaska and Yukon, as well as central Canada and the Maritime provinces, while Long-billeds generally prefer freshwater and breed mainly from western and northern Alaska to eastern Siberia before migrating as far south as Mexico for the winter. Taxonomy The Long-billed dowitcher is a bird in the order Charadriiformes, which includes shorebirds, gulls, and alcids. It is part of the Scolopacidae family, and it belongs to the Scolopacinae subfamily along with snipes and woodcocks. Its genus Limnodromus includes only two other species; the Short-billed dowitcher and the Asian dowitcher. The long-billed dowitcher was first described by Thomas Say in 1823 under the name Limnodromus scolopacea. The taxonomy of the long-billed and short-billed dowitcher has presented difficulties in part due to the variability of the short-billed dowitcher. For around 100 years the long-billed dowitcher and short-billed dowitcher were recognized as two distinct species. By 1927 the long-billed dowitcher was made a sub-species of the short-billed dowitcher, as the western form, due to bird observations which were similar to both species linking the two geographically. It was not until Frank Pitelka published his monograph, in 1950, that the two dowitcher species were once again accepted as being two distinct species. Further research has shown that the two species are estimated to