Word of the Day!

Over on my own journal, I'm doing a week of shorebirds with interesting names. Here's another:


dowitcher (DOU-ich-er) - n., any of three medium-sized wading shorebirds of the genus Limnodromus of North America and Asia.


With long, straight bills but shorter legs than many waders, making them look something like snipes (though more like godwits in color). Strongly migratory. This is an Americanism, as might be guessed given they don't live in Europe and the Asian species is rare, name first recorded in 1841 -- its origin, however, is uncertain: it's probably from an Iroquoian language (such as Mohawk tawístawis or Oneida tawístawe, both meaning ‎snipe) but exactly which, we don't know.

Other shorebirds that eat leaf-beetles are the phalarope and dowitcher.

---L.