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Most of these long-billed dowitchers are partially or fully molted from the dull winter plumage into the bright rusty breeding plumage, and several were photographed in near Barrow in northern Alaska during the breeding season. Others were resting in shallow water at the San Jacinto Wildlife Area near Riverside, at Bolsa Chica wetlands in coastal Orange County, or at the Salton Sea, all in southern California. Breeding-plumage birds move fairly rapidly through California on their way north to breeding sites in the Arctic. One preening bird shows the ability of dowitchers to bend the end of the bill, almost like a forceps, to grasp small prey items buried in mud. |
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