Shortly after posting this gallery of juvenile Short-billed Dowitchers I was back on the East Pond of Jamaica Bay and had perhaps the most cooperative dowitcher ever decide to forage to within five meters.  I like these pictures even more than I like the stuff from the gallery.  So, rather than beat around the bush, here are three more shots of  Limnodrous griseus.

Here’s a little tidbit that I thought worth passing on: according to The Birder’s Handbook the “weird name dowitcher is actually a corruption of ‘Duitsch’ (Dutch) or ‘Deutscher’ (German) Snipe.  The name may be associated with the early Dutch population of New York and may have originated to distinguish it from the Common Snipe.”

You learn something new every day.

This post has been submitted to Bird Photography Weekly #104.  Go check it out!

Written by Corey
Corey is a New Yorker who lived most of his life in upstate New York but has lived in Queens since 2008. He's only been birding since 2005 but has garnered a respectable life list by birding whenever he wasn't working as a union representative or spending time with his family. He lives in Forest Hills with Daisy and Desmond Shearwater. His bird photographs have appeared on the Today Show, in Birding, Living Bird Magazine, Bird Watcher's Digest, and many other fine publications. He is also the author of the American Birding Association Field Guide to the Birds of New York.