Long journey for short-billed dowitcher.

Flushed with my success with the Baillon's crake yesterday, I left at 05.00 this morning for Weymouth, Lodmoor, to see the short-billed dowitcher, an American wader. At 7.35 it was nowhere to be seen, despite there being about 8 or 10 birdwatchers on site. I decided to look on the South side which the long-billed dowitcher had preferred last year. I got about 200 metres down the path when a wader caught my eye. Through my binoculars it had all the hallmarks of the short-billed dowitcher. By that I mean it looked pretty much the same as the long-billed!! Sure enough, that was it. A couple of the others arrived but the bird moved into a clump of reed and stayed hidden for several minutes before emerging again. It was reasonably close but still tended to hide in the reeds a lot. I was back home at 12.00 noon.

A second lifer in 2 days. OMG, I hope I'm not becoming a twitcher again!!


Short-billed dowitcher - juvenile.

Short-billed dowitcher - juvenile.