When you're ready to take on the challenge of shorebird identification, this video will give you some simple tips to begin a lengthy but rewarding journey.
Fantastic!So very true,shorebird identification is fascinating and addicting.Go to parker river NWR in newburyport Mass in august and have yourself an incredible shorebird id ing experience,thats where I got hooked around 17 years of age.I could be seen in the crowd of 60-70 year old veteran watchers very easily and learning a TON from the old timers.One day I watched a peregrine falcon dive the shorebird pans hunting for dinner.What could be more exciting!
Most helpful especially the reaffirming of the Least Sandpiper and its yellow legs that could be masked by mud...looking forward to more of these. Does Peterson have side by side comparisons with Flycatchers such as Alder/Willow/Pacific-slope/etc smaller flycatchers and also the larger flycatchers such as Ash/Nuttings/Brown-crested/Dusky .. thanks for the video
Quite informative with good information about a group of birds which are at times difficult to identify to species. I am surprised that you didn't include any information about the widely distributed and easy to identify Kildeer. Where I live, in southeastern BC, Canada, the Kildeer is the most common shorebird species, and the only shorebird which can be seen in winter.
Right now I am carving 6 Dunlins in breeding plumage for a biologist that is netting them and banding them. I find shorebirds are so interesting and very unique in the animal kingdom.
Actually, a shorebird is any bird that belongs to the order Charadriiformes, whilst shorebirds belonging to the families Turnicidae (Buttonquails), Pedionomidae (Plains Wanderer), Thinocoridae (Seedsnipes), Rostratulidae (Painted Snipes), Jacanidae (Jacanas), Scolopacidae (Snipes, Curlews, Sandpipers, Godwits, Woodcocks, Dowitchers, Phalaropes, Shanks, Tattlers, Turnstones, Knots, Stints, Dunlin, Ruff, and Surfbird), Charadriidae (Plovers and Lapwings), Pluvianellidae (Magellanic Plover), Recurvirostridae (Avocets and Stilts), Ibidorhynchidae (Ibisbill), Haematopodidae (Oystercatchers), Burhinidae (Stone-Curlews), Chionididae (Sheathbills), Glareolidae (Pratincoles and Coursers), Dromadidae (Crab Plover), and Pluvianidae (Crocodile Bird) are specifically called waders, additionally waders are considered a paraphyletic group because the families Burhinidae, Chionidae, Glareolidae, Dromadidae, and Pluvianidae are more closely related to the families Laridae (Gulls), Stercorariidae (Skuas), Sternidae (Terns, Noddies, and Skimmers), and Fraterculidae (Puffins, Razorbill, Auks, Auklets, Guillemots, Murres, and Murrelets) than to other families of shorebirds known as waders.
