Hi Everybody. This poor bird was at Blacks Creek Reservoir yesterday. Looks like some sort of dowitcher, but both short and long-billed are considered rare right now (by ebird). He seems thin, but that’s maybe just because he’s unwell?

The bird was pretty messed up, so I gave him plenty of space…

I’ve never really tried to differentiate between the dowitchers, but this one struck me as different (maybe just acting strangely because he was sick?) In most of the photos (not many), his tail is covered by his wings, but in this one, you can really see the white bands. The bill and face seem right, but he’s in bad shape and it’s hard to see color patterns in the sad mess of feathers. Any thoughts before I try to submit the report to ebird? There doesn’t seem to be a “short-billed/long-billed dowitcher” option 🙂

Thanks!
Amy Silver (Boise)