Priorities for Future Research

Perhaps the most pressing need is to confirm the apparent recent decline of birds migrating along the Atlantic coast and, if verified, to seek causes. The usual suspects are shrinkage in size or quality, or both, of coastal habitats used in migration and winter. Studies on the physiological condition of Short-billed Dowitchers at various times of the annual cycle and their ability to fly long distances would be revealing. Comparative data on Pacific coast migrants are needed, as are historical data from that area.

Given the inaccessibility of much of the breeding area, the difficulty of working in muskegs, and the fact that nests are found almost by accident, it is unrealistic to think that much new information about specific breeding sites will be rapidly forthcoming. Information on mate and site fidelity and breeding success would be valuable.

The ranges of the races are incompletely known. Where is the western limit of hendersoni? Are birds in the St. Elias Mountains really caurinus? Is there a zone of intergradation between griseus and hendersoni on the west coast of James Bay? Studies there, especially, need to be based on specimens from inland localities in June. Those taken on the coast of James Bay are of little value for resolving range limits because dowitchers are early migrants and coastal birds may be derived from distant breeding areas. Field workers should try to verify breeding haunts using the behavior of adults as a guide and, if possible, obtain specimens or photographs of putative breeding birds, in particular where racial identity is not clear.