The long-billed dowitcher (Limnodromus scolopaceus) is a medium-sized shorebird with a relatively long bill belonging to the sandpiper family, Scolopacidae.

In breeding plumage, adults are characterized by a rufous head and underparts with a darker mottled back and a large white upper rump only seen in flight.

[2][3][4] They feed in various freshwater habitats with their bill underwater in a "sewing machine" motion and have a mating display where males chase females in flight.

In all plumages, the long-billed dowitcher has a whitish supercilium and dark loral stripe that continuous past the eye.

In non-breeding plumage, adults are drab grey, with darker upperparts and breast contrasting with paler white belly.

On the long-billed dowitcher these feathers are dark gray with narrow buff edges with internal markings so dull they seem to lack them altogether.

[2] Measurements:[3] In North America, the long-billed dowitcher breeds mainly throughout western and northern Alaska along the coast from Hooper Bay to w. Mackenzie and south to the foothills of Brooks Range.

In the winter, this bird can be found in a much larger variety of habitats ranging from mudflats, flooded wetlands, wet meadows and fields to various lakes and marshes preferring water less than three inches deep.

The long-billed dowitcher will also migrate through the Great Plains on the western side with a vast majority moving through Alberta.

From their breeding grounds the long-billed dowitcher will either migrate south along the Pacific Coast, across the Canadian Prairies and down the Great Basin or through Ontario towards Florida.

[16] Long-billed dowitchers forage by jabbing or probing with a characteristic "sewing machine" motion in shallow water or on wet mud, often with their heads underwater and using tactile receptors on the tip of their bill to locate prey by touch.

[19][20] The long-billed dowitcher's main call, mostly heard in flight but also while on ground, is a high, sharp keek sometimes repeated as an accelerating quick double or triple note series.

[22] Long-billed dowitchers nest in wet areas of tall grasses in the troughs of raised mounds and ridges.

The eggs are also heavily splotched with varying shades of brown near the base of the large end with the underlying marks being dark gray.