I have been noticing a number of Long-billed Dowitcher reports over the last couple of weeks. Quite a few have high numbers and flagged by Ebird, those numbers are often rounded, and there are no short-billed or short-billed/long-billed entries. So entire flocks of up to 150 birds are all called Long-billed. At all the locations short-billeds are also regularly recorded, including in winter. Although there are sometimes photos, which may even show Long-billed, photos of all birds seen are not included nor do most reports have ay description separating these from Short-billed. Most of the reports are at long distance through a scope, where birds appear very small. Ebird asks that you count every bird you could identify. As closely looking at every bird in a flock of similar birds, such as the two dowitchers, while enjoying yourself birding can quickly turn it into a chore. For this reason Ebird has species pairs that are often difficult to separate that can be used, including short-billed/long-billed dowitcher. If you don't have positive IDs of each bird you see, especially when estimating and even actual counting, a better protocol is to accurately identify several, put that number in as whichever species they are, then add in the remainder as the species pair. But I would also remind everyone just how difficult non-juvenile and especially winter plumage dowitchers can be to separate. I have attached four photos that are much more easily inspected than distant views.
