A couple of short billed dowitcher's arrived back at the lagoon, always nice to see something different.
I love their mottled plumage and that attractive eye stripe. When I looked at your dowitchers and the length of their bills it reminded me of a film I watched a few weeks ago. It was all about New Zealand and its wildlife. Did you know that Kiwis have nostrils at the very end of their bills and to measure the length of a birds beak you take it from the nostrils to the tip of the bill? Scientists have therefore deduced that a kiwi has a very short beak!!
Lovely birds! We don't have them here, but I wish we did. One question--after seeing the "short-billed" dowitcher, why is it called short-billed? That is quite a long honker!
On the first pic the bill looks like two times the size of the head, on the other pic it looks more than two times. Actually, the first pic was ID'd by the mottled plumage, so there may not be two much difference if you don't see them together.
