Long-billed Dowitcher Superspecies # 14 Limnodromus scolopaceus Say        Field Guide IDs: NG-180; G-124; PE-124; PW-pl 31; AE-pl 213; AW-pl 213; AM(I)-404 Nest Location Nest Type Eggs & Mating System Dev. & Parental Care Primary & 2ndary Diet.. Foraging Strategy M-F I: 20-21 DAYS PRECOCIAL 2 MF(?) 4 MONOG? F: ? DAYS M-F INSECTS SEEDS BREEDING: Grass tundra, wet meadows. ? broods. DISPLAYS: See: Shorebird Communication. NEST: On small rise in wet meadow, usu near shallow water. Scrape in decayed grass or moss. Bottom often wet. Meagerly lined with withered leaves, grass. EGGS: Brownish or greenish, marked with brown, wreathed. 1.7" (42 mm). DIET: Aquatic insects, mollusks, crustaceans, marine worms, spiders; seeds of aquatic plants. Forages in shallow fresh water at margin, probing mud, often immersing head. CONSERVATION: Winters s through Mexico (mostly w portions) to Guatemala. NOTES: Pair initially incubate, later only male. Young can be herded by hovering adult. More commonly associated with fresh water than is Short-billed Dowitcher. STANFORD. NOTES: ESSAYS: Shorebird Feeding; Spacing of Wintering Shorebirds; Shorebird Migration and Conservation; Sandpipers, Social Systems, and Territoriality; Who Incubates?. REFERENCES: Cramp and Simmons, 1983; Johnsgard, 1981; Miller et al., 1984.