Short-billed Dowitchers are generally found in coastal areas, shorelines, and muddy or brackish ponds. Long-billed Dowitchers are less common in the Bahamas, and prefer freshwater habitat. It can be quite hard to tell them apart unless seeing them together. As previously mentioned, they forage by rapidly plunging their long bills into mud or shallow water in a motion sometimes compared to a sewing machine (old-fashioned).