It Never Rains But It Pours
By Corey • August 22, 2010 • 12 commentsShortly after posting this gallery of juvenile Short-billed Dowitchers I was back on the East Pond of Jamaica Bay and had perhaps the most cooperative dowitcher ever decide to forage to within five meters. I like these pictures even more than I like the stuff from the gallery. So, rather than beat around the bush, here are three more shots of Limnodrous griseus.
…
Here’s a little tidbit that I thought worth passing on: according to The Birder’s Handbook the “weird name dowitcher is actually a corruption of ‘Duitsch’ (Dutch) or ‘Deutscher’ (German) Snipe. The name may be associated with the early Dutch population of New York and may have originated to distinguish it from the Common Snipe.”
You learn something new every day.
…
This post has been submitted to Bird Photography Weekly #104. Go check it out!
Tags: dowitchers, shorebirds, Short-billed Dowitchers
• Camping tents - Check out our pop up tents, family tents, Vango tents, and more! •
Beautiful shots of the Dowitcher. I have seen plenty of Dowitchers but seem to keep missing the Common Snipe. Thanks for the info.
@Eileen: Thanks! Snipes can be tough to find. I would recommend wet roadside fields in early spring as the most likely place to find them on their migration. Sometimes you can get lucky and see a whole bunch at once!
And though I didn’t mention it above, I should have reminded folks that the snipe in North America has been split from the snipe in Europe, so the North American one is now called Wilson’s Snipe.
I had just happened to look up that the New Oxford American Dictionary — the one built into recent Macs — lists “Dowitcher” as “ORIGIN mid 19th cent.: from Iroquoian.” I had thought that was neat because I don’t know any other words (that is, not place names) derived from Iroquoian.
Amazingly wonderful photos. I always thought that the word “skunk” was Iroquoian, but it’s apparently Algonquian. In any event, MacAtee does list “German snipe” and “Dutch snipe” as old names, suggesting that the rather complicated and possibly contrived form “dowitcher” may be the descendant of “deutscher” / “duitser.”
Awesome shots of the Short-billed Dowitcher Corey. It looks like you must have been laying on your tummy for those. Excellent angle.
Excellent low-angle and close-up shots of the “deutschers”.
Strangely, there is only one accepted record of a Short-billed “Deutscher” / “Duitser” from Deutschland/Germany, dating waaay back to the 80s. There have been a number of Long-billeds though.
Indeed some beautiful closeup photos of the Short-billed Dowitcher. Great work Corey!
These are great close ups on this bird. He’s a beauty.
@Chris E and Rick: Isn’t word derivation great fun?
@Larry, Bob K, MaineBirder, and Halcyon: Thanks!
@Jochen: Well, you better get out looking then.
Nice shots & interesting factoid!
that is really great closeups. Sometimes you got to get lucky.
And raining? Yea a lot.