Long-billed dowitcher

Limnodromus scolopaceus

Imagine a fleet of 100-or-so sewing machines going full speed.

That’s about how much vertical activity you’ll see if you’re watching a flock of long-billed dowitchers repeatedly sticking their bills into muck, probing for invertebrates such as worms. That bill, unlike most birds, is soft and sensitive, which allows dowitchers to detect food when they hit it. At places such as Cheyenne Bottoms, they can be seen in broad areas with only a few inches of water bobbing their head up and down for hours, trying to store calories before their southward migration.

Even though we’re as close to first day of summer as we are the first day of fall, Kansas may already have some dowitchers migrating southward. Most of the birds nested in central and northern Canada and will spend their winters along the Gulf Coast. Dowitchers are about 11 inches long, with a wingspan of about 19 inches.

This story was originally published August 3, 2016 at 8:09 PM with the headline "Long-billed dowitcher."