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Short-Billed Dowitcher

Short-Billed Dowitcher line art illustration (click image to enlarge)

Short-Billed Dowitcher full color illustration (click image to enlarge)

Artist's notes:

The Short-Billed Dowitcher was completed on 4.28.2011. After a weekend in Monterey I was much taken by the busy little shorebirds that dotted the waves and searched for food in the damp sand. I decided that I needed to add some of these interesting birds to the illustration library, particularly because they can be found on the Pacific coast, where I've been lucky enough to spend a good deal of time over the last decade. The drawing is based on a photo by Patty Bruno.

Information about the Short-Billed Dowitcher:

The Short Billed Dowitcher is a medium-sized, stocky shorebird of the sandpiper family, which includes the snipes and the curlews. These birds are noted with the various sizes and shaped of the bill, which are sometimes curved, straight, long or short. The Short-Billed Dowitcher is a migratory bird, and is found up and in many areas of North America, and when the cold weather approaches it heads southwards down to the southern US and into South America. These shorebirds are found alongside lakes, marshes, slow-moving streams and rivers and coastlines and beaches, where they forage for food in the mud and sand. They will sometimes feed on plant matter, but mostly they eat small insects and other invertebrates like mollusks, crustaceans and marine worms.