Thursday's Bird Watch

 Long-billed Dowitcher

This is a Long-billed Dowitcher. You may think this looks similar to the Long-billed Curlew featured two weeks ago, and it is in that it belongs to the same Family of birds, called Sandpipers, but the Long-billed Dowitchers are much smaller, in fact, half the size of the Long-billed Curlew.  The Village Birders from Dallas Retirement Village found several of these Long-billed Dowitchers at near-by Baskett Slough National Wildlife Refuge during an afternoon Bus Birding Tour last month.  They are common birds here at Basket Slough, and can be seen almost year around along the water's edge of the ponds on either side of Coville Rd.