Last month, I discussed how to identify gulls, terns, and related species by analyzing their structural characteristics and behavior. This time, I’m examining the shorebirds that I saw at Dauphin Island during March of this year.
Shorebirds are a challenging group; most of them are fairly drab in color, and several species are so similar that, at certain times of year, it may be impossible to reliably distinguish them. That being said, if you know which species are common for the particular area, habitat, and season that you’re birding, then you’re probably already halfway to making an identification. For example, at Dauphin Island, I was birding on the beach, so I knew that I was unlikely to see any shorebirds that prefer freshwater habitats. Furthermore, I knew that Sanderlings and Willets are two of the most abundant shorebird species in coastal Alabama, so I could use those as a basis for comparison with other, less familiar species.
Here’s a photo from the last post. The larger, brown shorebird is a Willet. As you’ll see, Willets are much larger and taller than most of the other shorebirds that you are likely to find on the beach. The small, pale sandpiper is a Sanderling. It’s considerably smaller than a Willet, but far from the tiniest shorebird seen on the beach, as we’ll see.
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| Sanderling, Willet, Laughing Gull, and Ring-billed Gull |
On the shoreline, there were a few plovers—small, stocky shorebirds. The one in the photo is a Semipalmated Plover, a name that refers to the partial webbing between its toes. As you can see, its bill is much shorter than that of the Sanderling (in the lower photo), and its body is stockier and more front-heavy, on the whole. Semipalmated plovers are smaller than Sanderlings, though, and they tend to forage farther up the beach than Sanderlings, which will skitter around closer to the waves. The plover family includes the abundant and widespread
Killdeer, which usually occurs on inland fields, pastures, and meadows. Like the Killdeer, the Semipalmated Plover will walk several feet and then pull up sharply, apparently scanning its environment.
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| Semipalmated Plover |
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| Sanderling |
There was another plover species on the beach, the much paler Piping Plover, but I didn’t manage to photograph it. However, I did get a picture of a Snowy Plover that was wandering on the dunes. The Snowy Plover is smaller and slimmer than the Semipalmated Plover, and lacks a complete neck-ring. It has pale, grayish upperparts; a proportionally long, narrow bill; and black legs. Snowy Plovers are a vulnerable species, and the bird in the photo had been color-banded for population research purposes.
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| Snowy Plover |
In the photo below, you can see a Semipalmated Plover and a Sanderling foraging near the same pool. The differences between the species are pretty obvious. What species are the birds in the background?
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| Sanderling and Semipalmated Plover. (Ring-billed Gull and Willet in background.) |
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This next photo shows a species that is a bit larger than the Sanderling and the Semipalmated and Snowy Plovers, but much smaller than the Willet. True to its name, the Ruddy Turnstone actually does turn over rocks and other material to find food underneath, so its foraging behavior can be an important clue to its identity. It also has bright orange legs and a dark, swirling pattern on the breast. The white patches on its back, wings, and tail are concealed unless it is in flight.
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| Ruddy Turnstone with Black Skimmers and Sanderling |
Okay, what are the birds in the photo below? They have small, stocky bodies; short, black legs; drab brown upperparts; and white underparts. These are Dunlins, which have longer bills than Sanderlings but are otherwise about the same size. Their longer bills provide a clue to their behavior, as they often feed in deeper water than Sanderlings do.
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| Dunlin |
In the next photo, a Sanderling forages to the left of two Dunlins. Notice the difference in color: the warmer brown of the Dunlin versus the pale gray of the Sanderling.
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| Sanderling and Dunlin |
The next pictures show the bill differences a bit more clearly:
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| Sanderling |
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| Dunlin |
Willets are so much larger than any of the shorebirds I’ve previously discussed that they usually don’t provide any identification challenges. As you can see in the photo below, they’re nearly as large as Laughing Gulls.
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| Calm Willets, angry Willet, and a Laughing Gull |
Here is a Willet by itself. You can see the long, grayish legs, grayish bill, and overall grayish-brown plumage. I should mention, though, that Willets are grayer and drabber in the winter and early spring than they are during the summer. The bird’s face has white feathers in front of the eye and a thin eye-ring, but is otherwise very plain.
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| Willet |
In the next pictures, the two larger birds are Willets, but the smaller bird on the left is a Short-billed Dowitcher. Notice the warmer tone of the brown plumage, the speckling on the underparts, the pale “eyebrow,” the yellowish-gray legs, and the white rump feathers. (The very similar Long-billed Dowitchers also occur on the coast in March, but they are less common in saltwater habitats, and their identification is a bit beyond the scope of this piece.)
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| Short-billed Dowitcher and Willets |
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| Same Short-billed Dowitcher and Willets |
In the photo below, dowitchers mingle with Willets and Laughing Gulls. Size and body structure, plumage characteristics, and posture/behavior can all help you to sort out these birds!
Obviously, identifying tricky-to-ID species is far more difficult when they are alone than when other birds are nearby, and I still struggle with a number of species groups. However, breaking away from a fixation on minute plumage details and taking a more holistic approach to identification can save you plenty of frustration in the field and teach you more about bird ecology. Try it out!
