Calidris himantopus, L 8–9.25” W 17.25–18.75” Long legs, long, fine, slightly drooped bill. Pete Dunne describes this bird as “a structural and behavioral hybrid between a Lesser Yellowlegs and a dowitcher.” It has longer legs and is taller than a dowitcher, but it has a smaller head and body, and a shorter, darker, finer-tipped bill. It is smaller than a Lesser Yellowlegs, with shorter legs, a bolder supercilium, and a more “capped” appearance, according to O’Brien, Crossley, and Karlson.

Both the dowitchers and the Stilt Sandpiper have a white supercilium, but their feeding behavior, not to mention their noticeably different body structure, should make it easy to separate them: the sandpiper has a much more active feeding style. According to O’Brien, “also probes with dowitcher-like ‘sewing-machine’ motion, but usually with head under water and tail tilted up,” because its bill is so much shorter than the dowitchers.

Stilts, with their longer legs, may also stand a bit apart, in deeper water than their common feeding companion dowitchers. Tip: When feeding, Long-billed Dowitchers look like they swallowed a grapefruit; short-bills tend to have a flatter back when feeding. Migrants start to leave the tundra breeding grounds in late June, peaking in August, but can linger in the U.S. through October. In migration, they enjoy freshwater shallow pools, small ponds, and flooded fields (think Duda).

References

Dunne, P. Pete Dunne’s Essential Field Guide Companion. NY: Houghton Mifflin, 2006.
Stevenson, H., Anderson, B. Birdlife of Florida. Gainesville: UP of Florida, 1994.
O’Brien M., Crossley R., and Karlson, K. The Shorebird Guide. NY: Houghton Mifflin, 2006.