The three dowitchers are medium-sized long-billed wading birds in the genus Limnodromus. The English name "dowitcher" is from Iroquois, recorded in English by the 1830s. The OED's earliest example is from 1841, but full-text searching gives results that suggest it was already in common use by the mid-1830s.
They resemble godwits in body and bill shape, and the reddish underparts in summer, but are much shorter legged, more like snipes, to which they are more closely related. All three are strongly migratory.
The two North American species are difficult to separate in most plumages, and were considered a single species for many years. The Asian bird is rare and not well known.
Taxonomy The genus Limnodromus was introduced in 1833 by the German naturalist Prince Maximilian of Wied-Neuwied to accommodate a single species, the short-billed dowitcher. The name combines the Ancient Greek limnē meaning "marsh" with -dromos meaning "-racer" or "-runner".
The dowitcher species are:
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