The long-billed dowitcher is 11-12 inches in length (28-30.8 cm) with a wingspan of 18.5-19.3 inches (47-49 cm).
It has a long, straight black bill; long, green legs; a white lower back and rump; and white eyebrows. In the summer, adults have reddish underparts, bars on their breasts and sides, and reddish edges on the feathers on their uppersides. Winter dowitchers are gray.
Males and females look alike, but females are slightly larger and have a longer bill.
The long-billed dowitcher uses its long bill to poke in the mud and find food. It looks like a sewing machine as its long bill probes up and down in the mud.
Its diet includes insect larvae, earthworms, crustaceans, moss, plant parts, seeds, and snails.
The female long-billed dowitcher usually lays 4 eggs in a grass or leaf-lined nest on the ground. Both the male and female incubate the eggs.
The female starts incubating the eggs while the male chases off intruders. Later, the male takes over and incubates the eggs up until the time they hatch three weeks after being laid. He then takes care of the chicks until they fledge.
The oldest recorded long-billed dowitcher was at least 8 years, 4 months old.
The long-billed dowitcher can be very aggressive when defending its territory.
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The long-billed dowitcher does not breed in New Hampshire, but it is an occasional vagrant in the state.
The long-billed dowitcher breeds in western Alaska and northwestern Canada. It winters along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts from California and Virginia south to the Gulf Coast and Mexico.
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