Limnodromus griseus

See Avise and Zink (1988) for information on genetic divergence between L. scolopaceus and L. griseus.

This species is relatively abundant but rapidly declining. The population suffered steep historical declines due to overhunting, particularly in the United States during the 1800s. Hunting continues to be a serious threat in the non-breeding range, especially Suriname. Wetland loss, especially in the non-breeding range, is another major threat. Disturbance by beachgoers during migration is also a threat. Estimates of declines during the 21st century range from 20%-60%.

The breeding season (May to mid-August) range is entirely within northern North America from southern coastal Alaska, United States (U.S.) east through Canada to extreme western Labrador (Jehl Jr. et al. 2020). To estimate the breeding range extent, Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF 2024) records were filtered to the years 2004-2024 (i.e., the past 20 years), during the months of June-August, then records that appeared to be outside of the breeding range map in Jehl et al. (2020) were removed. GeoCat (2024) calculated the breeding range extent to be approximately 2.7 million km². The breeding range is the more limited range extent and is the basis for this assessment.

The non-breeding season (August to late April) range is entirely coastal. It extends from northern California, U.S. to central Peru on the Pacific Coast, and from southern Virginia, U.S. to northern Brazil on the Atlantic Coast, including the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean (Jehl Jr. et al. 2020). To estimate the non-breeding range extent, GBIF (2024) records were filtered to the years 2004-2024, during the months of December to February to avoid including observations made during periods of migration, and records of obvious rare vagrancies were removed. Using GBIF (2024) records since 2004 (i.e., the past 20 years), GeoCat (2024) calculated the non-breeding range extent to be approximately 31 million km².

The number of breeding occurrences, split amongst three disjunct breeding ranges, has not been assessed using standardized methods but likely consists of several dozen occurrences.

Hunting shorebirds for food is a serious threat in northern South America and the Caribbean where an estimated 110,900-243,100 shorebirds are killed annually (Morrison et al. 2012, Reed et al. 2018, AFSI Harvest Working Group 2020, Andres et al. 2022). The highest known annual shorebird harvests include Suriname (73,000-182,100), Guyana (>36,000), Martinique (9,100-12,700), Barbados (9,000-10,000), northern Brazil (5,000-10,000), and French Guiana (3,000-7,000) (AFSI Harvest Working Group 2020, Andres et al. 2022). It is unknown what percentage of these estimates represent short-billed dowitchers, although it is noted as one of the most harvested species in some parts of the non-breeding range (AFSI Harvest Working Group 2020). Due to being an important stopover site (Jehl Jr. et al. 2020) and having very heavy hunting pressure (AFSI Harvest Working Group 2020), the impact of hunting is likely highest in Suriname. In Barbados, this species made up 4-11% of harvested shorebirds (Reed et al. 2018). In northeastern Guyana, the threat appears to be negligible for this species due to its scarcity there (Andres et al. 2022). It is no longer hunted in the United States or Canada (Naves et al. 2019, AFSI Harvest Working Group 2020).

Loss of coastal wetlands is a serious threat throughout the non-breeding range. Throughout the non-breeding range, habitat loss is projected to continue due to sea-level rise, development, agriculture, aquaculture, severe hurricanes, and invasive plants (Dahl and Stedman 2013, Newton et al. 2020). Tidal flats, one of the most important non-breeding habitats, have declined 16% worldwide between 1984 and 2016, and the loss of this habitat is projected to continue due to sea-level rise (Murray et al. 2019).

Physical disturbance by humans and domestic dogs sharing shorelines with this species can have negative impacts, especially at migratory stopover sites when birds are rebuilding energy reserves spent during long-distance flights (Trulio and Sokale 2008, Koch and Paton 2014, Drever et al. 2016).