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. As it feeds, its bill moves up and down like a tiny sewing machine.
Its diet includes insect larvae, earthworms, crustaceans, moss, plant parts, seeds, and snails.
The female long-billed dowitcher usually lays four eggs in a nest on the ground, lined with grass or leaves. Both the male and the female help keep the eggs warm.
At first, the female sits on the eggs while the male protects the nest from intruders. Later, the male takes over incubating the eggs until they hatch, about three weeks after being laid. After hatching, the male cares for the chicks until they fledge (develop flight feathers).
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.
*Vagrant birds are usually migratory birds that stray from their migratory path by accident or sometimes because of a storm.
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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