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Conservation and Management
Effects Of Human Activity
Shooting And Trapping
Sold in markets of Los Angeles in 1865 as “jack snipe” (Grinnell et al. 1918). Decline in numbers of dowitchers in e. North America and California in late 1800s and early 1900s because of hunting (Page and Gill 1994); enactment of Migratory Bird Treaty Act in 1918, 2 years after its passage, brought protection.
Pesticides And Other Contaminants/Toxics
Pesticide and other contaminant levels available for dowitcher, but interpretation of results difficult since no experimental work on effects of these toxins on either breeding or migrating and wintering individuals is available. Mean DDE residues (0.4–1.3 parts per million [ppm]; wet wt) found in pooled breast-tissue samples (5 groups, 9 or 10 individuals per group) of the Long-billed Dowitcher in California, Dec 1984–Feb 1985 (Custer and Myers 1990); selenium 5.5–15.3 ppm (dry wt) in livers, and mercury 2.1–3.3 ppm (dry wt). Compared with this species in Texas, individuals collected at San Francisco Bay in 1992 had higher selenium levels (12–27 ppm dry wt) and elevated levels of aluminum (42–147 ppm dry wt; C. Hui, J. Takekawa and S. Warnock unpubl.). A sample (n = 55) of Long-billed Dowitchers collected in s. Texas during 1979 and 1980 had 2.8–5.7 ppm DDE, accumulating to potentially dangerous levels (12–68 ppm) in 40% of those sampled; mean levels of dieldrin 0.05–0.09 ppm (wet wt), and 0.07 to 0.024 (wet wt) for toxaphene, far below levels known to cause avian mortality (White et al. 1983). Dowitchers collected in Suriname and Ecuador for contaminant studies and reported as Long-billed (Fyfe et al. 1991) were probably Short-billed Dowitcher (R. Fyfe pers. comm.), because Long-billed Dowitcher is rare in South America.
Ingestion Of Plastics, Lead, Etc
No data.
Collisions With Stationary/Moving Structure Or Objects, Fishing Nets
No data.
Degradation Of Habitat: Breeding And Wintering
Little breeding habitat disturbed in North America; largely unknown effect of degradation of habitats in n. Russia. Loss of wetlands in individual states west of Rocky Mtns., 30–91% (median = 37%); in Great Plain states, 35–89% (median = 48%, Page and Gill 1994); such losses likely impact migrating and wintering Long-billed Dowitcher populations. Species given a habitat vulnerability score of 7 (range 3–18, 3 = lowest, 18 = highest; Page and Gill 1994).
Disturbance At Nest And Roost Sites
Trampling of nests by caribou (Rangifer tarandus) occasional source of nest loss in n. Alaska (NW); also likely for reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) in parts of n. Russia. Roost sites in w. U.S. affected by wetland habitat loss in developed areas, especially in California. Vehicle disturbance on beaches in e. U.S. implicated in declines of migrating Short-billed Dowitcher (Pfister et al. 1992).
Human/Research Impacts
Not known.
Management
Conservation Status
No data.
Measures Proposed And Taken
Beneficial management includes manipulating vegetation, controlling grazing and water depth, and reducing disturbance (Elphick 1996). In San Francisco Bay estuary, CA, management of salt-evaporation ponds for shorebirds such as Long-billed Dowitcher (see Anderson 1970) resulted in regional recommendations: (1) support managed saline ponds, seasonal ponds, and wetlands; (2) encourage construction of elements in restored tidal marsh that favor shorebirds (e.g., bare levees and islets, and shallow water areas (5–10 cm); and (3) minimize disturbance of roosting and foraging areas (Goals Project 1999).
Effectiveness Of Measures: The Species’ Response
Elphick and Oring (1998) tested 6 rice strawmanagement treatments and found highest densities of Long-billed Dowitcher in rice fields where rice straw from the previous growing season had been partially buried by being disked or chiseled and then flooded. On San Pablo Bay, CA, use of tide gates to reduce flow resulted in decreased water levels at low tides and increased numbers of shorebirds, including this species (JYT).
Takekawa, John Y. and Nils Warnock. 2000. Long-billed Dowitcher (Limnodromus scolopaceus), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology; Retrieved from the Birds of North America Online: http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/493
