Short-billed Dowitcher (Limnodromus griseus), Glendale Recharge Ponds, Maricopa County

These Short-billed Dowitchers were discovered and photographed by Tommy DeBardeleben on 06 September 2012 at the Glendale Recharge Ponds. The pictures show four of at least five juvenile Short-billed Dowitchers that were present.

Rare but annual fall transient in Arizona, casual at other times during the year.

Juvenile Short-billed Dowitchers show distinctive "tiger-striped" tertials, a lot of white on the tail, usually a more buff-colored breast, and different vocalizations then Long-billed Dowitcher.  These birds also show the characteristic flat-backed foraging posture of Short-billed Dowitcher which is different from the hunch-backed look of a foraging Long-billed Dowitcher. 

06 September 2012, photo by Tommy DeBardeleben