Several studies have shown that the vast majority of dowitchers in Grays
Harbor from April-September are Short-billed. Long-billed, although they
winter in small numbers, are later migrants than Short-billed and probably
aren't even present in most of the dowitcher flocks in Grays Harbor until
the first week of May, when they are still very much in the minority. Best
to look for them in freshwater wetlands at this time, although they can
occur on the mudflats with the Short-billed.

As far as field marks go, calls are still best--listen for them from flocks
of flying or flushed birds. Long-billed tend to have evenly reddish,
relatively lightly marked underparts, with barring on the side from upper
breast to undertail. Short-billed very commonly have white bellies and more
heavily spotted breasts than Long-billed, and always show spots at the side
of the breast (but not farther back, where there are bars). You have to get
sufficiently close to see the spotting/barring difference that the use of
the other characters is easier. A lot of the dowitchers that migrate
through here in spring (perhaps only Short-billed, I'm not sure) are
*singing,* a complex buzzy vocalization that includes 3-syllabled elements
that sound vaguely like 'dowitcher dowitcher dowitcher,' and you can hear
this from the flocks that fly in to Bowerman as high tide approaches. There
is some Dunlin singing at the same time, also buzzy and up-and-down but not
so complex; I rarely hear Westerns sing in migration, but some other
species, for example Greater Yellowlegs do it; listen up!

Dennis Paulson
Slater Museum of Natural History
University of Puget Sound
Tacoma, WA 98416
206-756-3798
dpaulson at ups.edu