SHORE BIRD SUPPLENET – FOR OBSERVATIONS IN El DORMIDO
American White Pelican
theiris, the bare skin around the eye, and the
feet. In the breeding season, there is a laterally
flattened "horn" on the upper bill, about onethird the bill's length behind the tip. This is
shed off after the birds have mated and laid
their eggs, and outside the breeding season
the bare parts become duller in color, with the
naked facial skin yellow and the bill, pouch and
feet an orangy-flesh color.[2]
Apart from the difference in size, males and
females look exactly alike. Immature birds
have light grey plumage with darker brownish
nape and remiges. Their bare parts are dull
grey. Hatchlings are naked at first, then grow
white down feathers all over, before moulting
to the immature plumage.
The bill is long and flat, with a large throat sac,
and in the breeding season vivid orange like
Roseate Spoonbill
The Roseate Spoonbill is 80 cm (31 in) tall,
with a 120–130 cm (47–51 in) wingspan. It has
long legs, a long neck, and a long, spatulate
bill. Adults have a bare greenish head ("golden
buff" when breeding]) and a white neck, back,
and breast (with a tuft of pink feathers in the
center when breeding), and are otherwise a
deep pink. The bill is grey. Sexes are similar.
Unlike herons, spoonbills fly with their necks
outstretched. They alternate groups of stiff,
shallow wingbeats with glides.
American Oystercatcher
The bird is marked by its black and white body
and a long, thick orange beak. This shorebird
is approximately 19 inches (42 – 52 cm) in
length.
Oystercatchers are closely tied to coastal
habitats. They nest on beaches on coastal
islands and feed on marine invertebrates. The
large, heavy beak is used to pry open
bivalve molluscs. Oystercatchers raise a clutch
of two or three eggs. In winter, they are found
in flocks along the coast from central New
Jersey to the Gulf of Mexico.
islands and feed on marine invertebrates. The
large, heavy beak is used to pry open
bivalve molluscs. Oystercatchers raise a clutch
of two or three eggs. In winter, they are found
in flocks along the coast from central New
Jersey to the Gulf of Mexico.
The bird is marked by its black and white body
and a long, thick orange beak. This shorebird
is approximately 19 inches (42 – 52 cm) in
length.
Oystercatchers are closely tied to coastal
habitats. They nest on beaches on coastal
Black bellied Plover
They are 27–30 cm long with a wingspan of
71–83 cm, and a weight of 190–280 g (up to
345 g in preparation for migration). In spring
and summer (late April or May to August), the
adults are spotted black and white on the back
and wings. The face and neck are black with a
white border; they have a black breast and a
white rump. The tail is white with black barring.
The bill and legs are black. They moult to
winter plumage in mid August to early
September and retain this until April; this being
a fairly plain grey above, with a grey-speckled
breast and white belly. The juvenile and firstwinter plumages, held by young birds from
fledging until about one year old, are similar to
the adult winter plumage but with the back
feathers blacker with creamy white edging. In
all plumages, the inner flanks and axillary
feathers at the base of the underwing are
black, a feature which readily distinguishes it
from the other three Pluvialis species in flight.
On the ground, it can also be told from the
other Pluvialis species by its larger (24–
34 mm), heavier bill.[1][2] In spring and
summer, mating season comes and the adults'
bellies of this species turn black whether the
bird is still in its wintering place (for example,
on a beach in Sanibel Island, Florida) because
it does not want to migrate, or in its breeding
grounds up in the arctic of northern Canada
and Alaska.
Collared Plover
frontal bar, and below by a black stripe from
the bill to the eye. The midcrown and nape are
chestnut and the legs are yellow. In flight,
the flight feathers are dark with a white wing
bar, and the tail shows white sides.
This small plover is
18 centimetres (7.1 in) long and weighs
35 grams (1.2 oz). Its upperparts are brown
and the underparts white in all plumages.
Adults have a black breast band. The male has
a white forehead, bordered above by a black
The female Collared Plover is usually very
similar to the male, but some individuals can
be sexed by a brown tinge to the black areas.
Immature birds lack any black on the head,
and the breast band is replaced by brown
patches on each side of the chest. The flight
call is a sharp metallic pip.
Wilson's Plover
The dark bill is large and heavy for a plover of
this size. The call is a high weak whistle.
The breeding male has a black breast band,
lores and forecrown, and a rufous mask.
Females and non-breeding males have a
similar plumage, but the black of the breeding
male is replaced by brown or rufous. Nonbreeders have a greyer tint to the head and
breast band.
This is a small plover at 17-20cm. The adult's
upper parts are mainly dark grey, with a short
white wing bar and white tail sides. The
underparts are white except for a breast band,
and the legs are pink, brighter when breeding.
Immature birds are similar to the female, but
the breast band is often incomplete.
Wilson's Plovers forage for food on beaches,
usually by sight, moving slowly across the
beach. They have a liking for crabs, but will
also eat insects and marine worms.
Semipalmated Plover
forehead, a black mask around the eyes and a
short orange and black bill.
Their breeding habitat is open ground on
beaches or flats across
northern Canada and Alaska. They nest on the
ground in an open area with little or no plant
growth.
Adults have a grey-brown back and wings, a
white belly, and a white breast with one black
neckband. They have a brown cap, a white
They are migratory and winter in coastal areas
ranging from the United States to Patagonia.
They are extremely rare vagrants to western
Europe, although their true status may be
obscured by the difficulty in identifying them
from the very similar Ringed Plover of Eurasia,
of which it was formerly considered
a subspecies.
These birds forage for food on beaches, tidal
flats and fields, usually by sight. They eat
insects, crustaceans and worms.
Willet
as Catoptrophorus semipalmatus),[2] is a
largeshorebird in the sandpiper family. It is a
good-sized and stout scolopacid, the largest of
the shanks. Its closest relative is the Lesser
Yellowlegs, a much smaller bird with a very
different appearance apart from the fine, clear
and dense pattern of the neck which both
species show in breeding plumage.
he Willet, Tringa semipalmata (formerly in
the monotypic genus Catoptrophorus,
Adults have gray legs and a long, straight, dark
and stout bill. The body is dark gray above and
light underneath. The tail is white with a dark
band at the end. The distinctive black and
white pattern of the wings is a common sight
along many North American coastal beaches.
Wandering Tattler
appearance to the closely related Gray-tailed
Tattler, T. brevipes. The tattlers are unique
among the species of Tringa for having
unpatterned, greyish wings and backs, and a
scaly breast pattern extending more or less
onto the belly in breeding plumage, in which
both also have a rather prominent supercilium.
The Wandering Tattler, Tringa
incana (formerly Heteroscelus incanus: Pereira
& Baker, 2005; Banks et al., 2006), is a
medium-sized wadingbird. It is similar in
These birds have stocky bodies with gray
upperparts, underwings, face and neck and a
white belly. They have short dark yellow legs
and a dark gray bill. Adults in breeding
plumage are heavily barred underneath.
Hudsonian Godwit
Adults have long dark legs and a long pink bill
with a slight upward curve and dark at the tip.
The upper parts are mottled brown and the
underparts are chestnut. The tail is black and
the rump is white. They show black wing
linings in flight.
Marbled Godwit
Adults have long blue-grey hairy legs and a
very long pink bill with a slight upward curve
and dark at the tip. The long neck, breast and
belly are pale brown with dark bars on the
breast and flanks. The back is mottled and
dark. They show cinnamon wing linings in
flight.
Ruddy Turnstone
It is a fairly small and stocky bird, 22–24
centimetres (8.7–9.4 in) long with a wingspan
of 50–57 centimetres (20–22 in) and a weight
of 85-150 grams. The dark, wedgeshaped bill is 2–2.5 centimetres (0.79–0.98 in)
long and slightly upturned. The legs are fairly
short at 3.5 centimetres (1.4 in) and are bright
orange.
Surfbird
The Surfbird is a small stocky wader in the
family Scolopacidae. It is usually classified in
a genus of its own, as Aphriza virgata, but
more recent data suggests it is very close
genetically to the Red and Great Knots and
should be included in Calidris (Thomas et al.,
2004). Indeed, the Great Knot looks very much
like a larger, more long-billed, and somewhat
darker surfbird.
This bird has a short dark bill, yellow legs and
a black band at the end of the white rump. In
breeding plumage, it has dark streaks on the
brownish head and breast with dark spots on
its white underparts; the upperparts are dark
with rust colouring on the wings. Birds in
winterplumage and immature birds are mainly
grey on the upperparts and breast and white
on the underparts with streaking.
Red Knot
An adult Red Knot is the second
largest Calidris sandpiper, measuring 23–
26 cm (9–10 in) long with a 47–53 cm (18.5–
21 in) wingspan. The body shape is typical for
the genus, with a small head and eyes, a short
neck and a slightly tapering bill that is no
longer than its head.[15] It has short dark legs
and a medium thin dark bill. The winter, or
basic, plumage becomes uniformly pale grey,
and is similar between the sexes. The
alternate, or breeding, plumage is mottled grey
on top with a cinnamon face, throat and breast
and light-coloured rear belly. The alternate
plumage of females is similar to that of the
male except it is slightly lighter and the eye-line
is less distinct. canutus,
islandica and piersmaiare the “darker”
subspecies. Subspecies rogersi has a lighter
belly than either roselaari or piersmai,
and rufa is the lightest in overall plumage. The
transition from alternate to basic plumages
begins at the breeding site but is most
pronounced during the southwards migration.
The moltto alternate plumage begins just prior
to the northwards migration to the breeding
grounds, but is mostly during the migration
period.
Sanderling
The Sanderling is a small plump sandpiper,
18–20 cm in length. Its weight ranges from 40100 g. The winter bird is very pale, almost
white apart from a dark shoulder patch. This is
the source of the specific name, alba, which is
the Latin for "white". Later in the summer, the
face and throat become brick-red. The juvenile
bird is spangled black and white, and shows
much more contrast than the adult. Sanderling
behavior is distinctive, but visually, if the size is
misjudged, a breeding plumage sanderling can
be mistaken for some varieties of stint, or a
winter plumage sanderling can be mistaken for
a Dunlin or Red Knot. It can be told from other
small wading birds, given good views, by its
lack of a hind toe.
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Adults have black legs and a short stout
straight dark bill. The body is dark grey-brown
on top and white underneath. The head and
neck are tinged light grey-brown. This bird can
be difficult to distinguish from other similar tiny
shorebirds, in particular the Western
Sandpiper; these are known collectively as
"peeps" or "stints".
Western Sandpiper
Adults have dark legs and a short thin dark bill,
thinner at the tip. The body is brown on top
and white underneath. They are reddish-brown
on the crown. This bird can be difficult to
distinguish from other similar tiny shorebirds,
especially the Semipalmated Sandpiper. This
is particularly the case in winter plumage,
when both species are plain gray. The
Western Sandpiper acquires winter plumage
much earlier in the autumn than the
Semipalmated Sandpiper.
Least Sandpiper
brown streaks on top and white underneath.
They have a light line above the eye and a
dark crown. In winter, Least Sandpipers are
grey above. The juveniles are brightly
patterned above with rufous colouration and
white mantle stripes.
This species has greenish legs and a short thin
dark bill. Breeding adults are brown with dark
This bird can be difficult to distinguish from
other similar tiny shorebirds; these are known
collectively as "peeps" or "stints". In particular,
Least Sandpiper is very similar to
its Asian counterpart, Long-toed Stint. It differs
from that species in its more compact, shorternecked appearance, shorter toes, somewhat
duller colours, and stronger wingbar.
Stilt Sandpiper
This species resembles the Curlew Sandpiper
in its curved bill, long neck, pale supercilium
and white rump. It is readily distinguished from
that species by its much longer and paler legs,
which give rise to its common and scientific
names. It also lacks an obvious wing bar in
flight.
These birds forage on muddy, picking up food
by sight, often jabbing like the dowitchers with
which they often associate. They mainly eat
insects and other invertebrates.
Laughing Gull
This species is easy to identify. It is 36–41 cm
(14–16 in) long with a 98–110 cm (39–43 in)
wingspan. The summer adult's body is white
apart from the dark grey back and wings and
black head. Its wings are much darker grey
than all other gulls of similar size except the
smaller Franklin's Gull, and they have black
tips without the white crescent shown by
Franklin's. The beak is long and red. The black
hood is mostly lost in winter.
Franklin's Gull
This species is easy to identify. The summer
adult's body is white and its back and wings
are much darker grey than all other gulls of
similar size except the larger Laughing Gull.
The wings have black tips with an adjacent
white band. The bill and legs are red. The
black hood of the breeding adult is mostly lost
in winter.
Ring-billed Gull
Adults are 49 cm (19 in) length and with a
124 cm (49 in) wingspan. The head, neck and
underparts are white; the relatively short bill is
yellow with a dark ring; the back and wings are
silver gray; and the legs are yellow. The eyes
are yellow with red rims. This gull takes three
years to reach its breeding plumage; its
appearance changes with each fall moult.
Black Tern
Adult are 25 cm (9.75 in) long, with a wing
span 61 cm (24 in), and weigh 62 g (2.2 oz).
They have short dark legs and a short, weaklooking black bill, measuring 27-28 mm, nearly
as long as the head. The bill is long, slender,
and looks slightly decurved. They have a dark
grey back, with a white forehead, black head,
neck (occasionally suffused with gray in the
adult) and belly, black or blackish-brown cap
(which unites in color with the ear coverts,
forming an almost complete hood), and a light
brownish-grey, 'square' tail. The face is white.
There is a big dark triangular patch in front of
the eye, and a broadish white collar in
juveniles. There are grayish-brown smudges
on the ides of the white breast, a downwards
extension of the plumage of the upperparts.
These marks vary in size and are not
conspicuous. In non-breeding plumage, most
of the black, apart from the cap, is replaced by
grey. The plumage of the upperparts is drab,
with pale feather-edgings. The rump is
brownish-gray.
Royal Tern
This is a large tern, second only to Caspian
Tern but is unlikely to be confused with that
carrot-billed giant, which has extensive dark
underwing patches. Royal Tern has a long
yellow bill, pale grey upperparts and white
underparts. Its legs are black. In winter, the
black cap becomes patchy. Juvenile Royal
Terns have a scaly-backed appearance. The
call is a characteristic loud grating noise like
aSandwich Tern.
Elegant Tern
This is a medium-large tern, with a long,
slender orange bill, pale grey upperparts and
white underparts. Its legs are black. In winter,
the forehead becomes white. Juvenile Elegant
Terns have a scalier pale grey back. The call is
a characteristic loud grating noise like a
Sandwich Tern.
Caspian Tern
It is the world's largest tern with a length of 48–
56 cm, a wingspan of 127–140 cm and a
weight of 574–782g.[2] Adult birds have black
legs, and a long thick red-orange bill with a
small black tip. They have a white head with a
black cap and white neck, belly and tail. The
upper wings and back are pale grey; the
underwings are pale with dark primary
feathers. In flight, the tail is less forked than
other terns and wing tips black on the
underside.[2] In winter, the black cap is still
present (unlike many other terns), but with
some white streaking on the forehead. The call
is a loud heron-like croak.
Gull-billed Tern
This is a fairly large and powerful tern, similar
in size and general appearance to a Sandwich
Tern, but the short thick gull-like bill, broad
wings, long legs and robust body are
distinctive. The summer adult has grey
upperparts, white underparts, a black cap,
strong black bill and black legs. The call is a
characteristic ker-wik.
Common Tern
within its range with the similar Arctic
Tern(Sterna paradisaea), Roseate Tern (S.
dougalli), Antarctic Tern (S. vittata) and South
American Tern (S. hirundinacea).
This medium-sized tern is 34-37 cm long with a
70-80 cm wingspan. It is most readily confused
Its thin, sharp bill is red with a dark tip. Its
longish legs are also red. Its upperwings show
a dark primary wedge, unlike the Arctic Tern, in
which they are uniformly grey. Its long tail
extends only to the wingtips on the standing
bird, unlike Arctic and Roseate Terns, which
extend past the wingtips. It is not as pale as
the Roseate Tern and has longer wings.
Black Skimmer
The Black Skimmer is 40-50 cm long with a
107-127 cm wingspan. The males weigh about
325 g, as compared to the smaller female’s
235 g. The basal half of the bill is red, the rest
mainly black, and the lower mandible is muchelongated. The eye has a dark brown iris
andcatlike vertical pupil, unique for a bird. The
legs are red. The call is a barking kak-kak-kak.
Solitary Sandpiper
pattern. In addition, both species nest in trees,
unlike most other scolopacids. The Solitary
Sandpiper lays its eggs in abandoned nests in
trees.
The Solitary Sandpiper, Tringa solitaria, is a
small wader (shorebird). Its only close relative
in the genus Tringa is the Green
Sandpiper(Pereira & Baker, 2005); they both
have brown wings with little light dots, and a
delicate but contrasting neck and chest
This species is a dumpy wader with a dark
green back, greyish head and breast and
otherwise white underparts. It is obvious in
flight, with wings dark above and below, and a
dark rump and tail centre. The latter feature
distinguishes it from the slightly larger and
broader-winged, but otherwise very
similar, Green Sandpiper of Europe and Asia,
to which it is closely related. The latter species
has a brilliant white rump. In flight, the Solitary
Sandpiper has a characteristic three-note
whistle.
Greater Yellowlegs
Its closest relative, however, is
the Greenshank, which together with
the Spotted Redshank form a close-knit group.
Among them, these three species show all the
basic leg and foot colors found in the shanks,
demonstrating that this character
is paraphyletic (Pereira & Baker, 2005). They
are also the largest shanks apart from
the Willet, which is altogether more robustly
built. The Greater Yellowlegs and the
Greenshank share a coarse, dark, and fairly
crisp breast pattern as well as much black on
the shoulders and back in breeding plumage.
he Greater Yellowlegs, Tringa melanoleuca, is
a large North American shorebird, similar in
appearance to the smaller Lesser Yellowlegs.
Adults have long yellow legs and a long, thin,
dark bill which has a slight upward curve and is
longer in length than the head. The body is
grey brown on top and white underneath; the
neck and breast are streaked with dark brown.
The rump is white. It ranges in length from 29
to 40 cm (11.5-16 inches) and in weight from
111 to 250 grams (3.9 to 9 oz).
Lesser Yellowlegs
The Lesser Yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes) is a
medium-sized shorebird similar in appearance
to the larger Greater Yellowlegs. It is not
closely related to this bird, however, but
instead to the much larger and quite
dissimilar Willet (Pereira & Baker, 2005);
merely the fine, clear and dense pattern of the
neck shown in breeding plumage indicates
these species' actual relationships.
Typical hunting behaviour, Petrie Island,Ottawa
Adults have long yellow legs and a long thin dark bill, about the same length as the head. The body is
grey brown on top and white underneath; the neck and breast are streaked with dark brown. The tail is
white.
Whimbrel
rump (subspecies N. p. phaeopus and N. p.
alboaxillaris only), and a long
curved bill (longest in the adult female) with a
kink rather than a smooth curve. It is generally
wary. The usual callis a rippling whistle,
prolonged into a trill for the song.
This is a large wader at 37-45 cm length. It is
mainly greyish brown, with a white back and
The only similar common species over most of
this bird's range are larger curlews. The
Whimbrel is smaller, has a shorter, decurved
bill and has a central crown stripe and strong
supercilia.
Long-billed Curlew
Adults have a very long bill curved downwards,
a long neck and a small head. The neck and
underparts are a light cinnamon, while the
crown is streaked with brown. This species
exhibits sexual dimorphism, the female having
a much longer bill than the male.
Short-billed Dowitcher
The Short-billed Dowitcher, Limnodromus
griseus, like its congener the Long-billed
Dowitcher, is a medium-sized, stocky, longbilledshorebird in the family Scolopacidae. It is
an inhabitant of North America, Middle
America, and northern South America[1]. It is
strongly migratory; it completely vacates in
breeding areas during the snow-bound
months[2]. This species favors a variety of
habitats including tundra in the north to ponds
and mudflats in the south. It feeds on
invertebrates often by rapidly probing its bill
into mud in a sewing machine fashion[3]. It and
the very similar Long-billed Dowitcher were
considered one species until 1950[4]. Field
identification of the two
American Limnodromusremains difficult today.
However, the two differ in subtle points of
plumage and they differ more substantially in
vocalizations. The names of American
dowitchers are misleading, as there is much
overlap in their bill lengths[3][4]. Only a small
percentage can be identified by this character
alone[4].
Long-billed Dowitcher
The Long-billed Dowitcher, Limnodromus
scolopaceus, is a medium-sized shorebird.
Adults have yellowish legs and a long straight
dark bill. The body is dark brown on top and
reddish underneath with spotted throat and
breast, bars on flanks. The tail has a black and
white barred pattern. The winter plumage is
largely grey.
Common Snipe
Adults are 25–27 cm in length with a 44–47 cm
wingspan and a weight of 80–140 g (up to 180
g pre-migration). They have short greenishgrey legs and a very long (5.5–7 cm) straight
dark bill. The body is mottled brown with strawyellow stripes on top and pale underneath.
They have a dark stripe through the eye, with
light stripes above and below it. The wings are
pointed.