Current view: Data table and detailed info
Taxonomic source(s)
AERC TAC. 2003. AERC TAC Checklist of bird taxa occurring in Western Palearctic region, 15th Draft. Available at: http://www.aerc.eu/DOCS/Bird_taxa_of_the_WP15.xls.
Christidis, L. and Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, Australia.
Cramp, S. and Simmons, K.E.L. (eds). 1977-1994. Handbook of the birds of Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The birds of the western Palearctic. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
del Hoyo, J., Collar, N.J., Christie, D.A., Elliott, A. and Fishpool, L.D.C. 2014. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Volume 1: Non-passerines. Lynx Edicions BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.
SACC. 2005 and updates. A classification of the bird species of South America. Available at: https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm.
IUCN Red List criteria met and history
Red List criteria met
Red List history
| Migratory status |
full migrant |
Forest dependency |
does not normally occur in forest |
| Land-mass type |
|
Average mass |
- |
Population justification: The global population is currently estimated at 245,000 mature individuals (Wetlands International 2023). Previously a lower value was estimated at 153,000 mature individuals (Andres et al. 2012), based on Jehl Jr. et al. (2020; first published in 2001). This estimates about 75,000 L. g. caurinus/Pacific populations and 78,000 L. g. hendersoni/griseus/Atlantic and Gulf coasts (Jehl Jr. et al. 2020). However more than 100,000 of the latter group were estimated to be breeding in Canada (Morrison et al. 1994), and this value is increased to 170,000 in Wetlands International (2023). A higher value of 320,000 was supplied for the United States Shorebird Conservation Plan (Brown 2001) and given the difficulty in adequately covering the population in either breeding or non-breeding areas this is a plausible high bound. The species is not covered by the Program for Regional and International Shorebird Monitoring (PRISM) surveys as it breeds further south, but the observation that these systematic surveys typically increased estimates significantly suggests the current population size may be conservative.
Trend justification: Analysis of migration count data estimates a moderate to extremely rapid reduction over the past three generations of -58% (-14 to -81% 90% credible intervals) (Smith et al. 2023). This data is also used for the trend in Partners in Flight (2023). Other data also indicate declines, but not at such severe rates. eBird data indicate a moderately rapid reduction between 14 and 23% over three generations (Fink et al. 2023), and Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) data estimate a 26% reduction over the 12 years between 2010 and 2022 (Ziolkowski et al. 2022), equal to the three-generation reduction after rounding. This latter rate has increased, with the equivalent rate derived from 2000-2022 data only 19%. Surveys of southbound migrants are thought to be the most representative data for deriving trends (ECCC 2019) and the network of sites covers the migration route of the eastern breeding range, but Alaskan breeding birds are not well covered. Pacific coast migration counts have not separated the two co-occurring dowitcher species: combined the species pair show a rapid reduction but this represents less than 5% of the global population (Migratory Shorebird Project, unpublished data). In contrast to the sources above, the Christmas Bird Count suggest an increasing trend within the USA and Canada (Meehan et al. 2022). Most of the population is outside of the USA during the non-breeding season, but this may reflect differing trends between subpopulations, indicating that the severe declines are occurring primarily in the populations migrating further, and along more easterly routes to winter in South America (G. Angelozzi-Blanco in litt. 2024). Alternatively it may represent shifts in the wintering distribution such that a greater number occur at more northern sites and are hence available to the CBC surveys (Smith et al. 2023). Overall, and accounting for the level of uncertainty in the migration count estimates, the rate of reduction is estimated at between 20-49% over the past three generations. This rate is projected to continue to one generation in the future, and while uncertainty is high it is suspected, given the absence of mitigation, to continue for the next three generations into the future.
Country/territory distribution
Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBA)
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Short-billed Dowitcher Limnodromus griseus. Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/short-billed-dowitcher-limnodromus-griseus on 23/11/2024.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2024) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 23/11/2024.
