["Pomp and Circumstance"]
["Pomp and Circumstance"]
["Pomp and Circumstance"]
To help all Americans enrich their lives by better knowing and enjoying our wildlife heritage,
the National Audubon Society is committed to providing educational information of the highest quality.
The publications of the National Audubon Society include award-winning Audubon Magazine
and American Birds, the field journal for committed bird enthusiasts.
In the Video Guide to the Birds of North America,
the Audubon Society offers a home video reference for family use in preparing for observing birds in nature.
Welcome to Volume 2 of the Audubon Society's Video Guide to the Birds of North America.
America's wetland habitats and their associated wildlife are facing widespread and unprecedented peril,
and your Audubon Society has a special interest in their preservation.
Such projects as the Audubon Sanctuary for migrating cranes on Nebraska's Platte River
help maintain the chain of resting places critical to birds making marathon migrations.
This volume focuses on the birds of the wetlands, describing the herons and egrets,
the cranes, rails, coots, and gallineuls, the plovers, the sandpipers, and the gulls and terns.
The colored name bands indicate the major group to which each species belongs
and can be used to expedite locating a bird in the cassette when your VCR is in the search mode.
For each species, the Video Guide provides the information you need to identify the bird in the field
and where time permits, a comment on the bird's ecology and population status.
There's motion footage to show behavior, still photographs to give details of markings,
computer-generated range maps to show where the birds summer, graded by density,
where they winter, and where they are present at all seasons.
Voice or other sound is included if that is helpful in identifying the bird.
There's a notation on each bird's length, where useful, and on wingspan.
The correct common name and the Latin name of each bird appear in the colored name band at the bottom of the screen.
This list of the birds covered in Volume 2 shows the reference number of each bird.
If you'd like to prepare an index, rewind the cassette to the opening and zero the counter on your VCR.
Then play through the cassette, noting the counter values at the beginning of each description.
Thereafter, if you zero the counter at the same location each time the cassette is loaded into your VCR,
you can fast-forward to the desired counter number.
Long-legged, dagger-billed birds that feed on fish and other aquatic life, the herons and egrets,
are among the most familiar birds of the water's edge, especially in warm climates.
Most herons are sociable, raising their young in mixed colonies, building bulky stick nests in trees.
Even outside the nesting season, huge numbers of herons may gather to feed or spend the night in communal roosts.
Unlike most other large wading birds, herons hunch their necks onto their backs in flight.
The most widespread and familiar heron in North America, the great blue heron, is also the largest.
It is easily recognized by its great size, blue-gray body, and black and white face pattern.
The great blue can winter farther north than most herons.
When water freezes over, it may hunt rodents near the water's edge.
A form of this species found locally in southern Florida has all-white plumage and is often called the great white heron.
It differs from other white herons and egrets by its combination of very large size and pale yellow legs.
An even rarer form, called Werdermann's heron, is restricted to the Florida Keys.
Werdermann's is a pale version of the normal morph.
Counting the so-called great white heron, we have six egrets and herons that are white in some plumages.
However, most individuals belong to the three common species that are always white.
Great egret, cattle egret, and snowy egret.
They're best separated by their bill and leg colors, plus careful attention to relative sizes.
Largest of the common white species is the great egret, emblem bird of the National Audubon Society.
Its long legs allow it to wade in deeper water than most egrets, so it is found in a variety of wet habitats.
It enters widely outside its breeding range, especially in late summer.
Besides its statuesque proportions, the great egret may be known by its yellow bill and black legs.
The combination of yellow bill and dark legs is shared at some seasons by the cattle egret.
This species is much smaller and chunkier than the great egret, however, and it has distinctive feeding habits.
It lives mostly on insects and often associates with grazing animals, waiting for them to flush insects from the grass.
During the breeding season, the cattle egret develops buffy patches on the plumage,
and its bill and legs turn bright yellow or orange.
Native to the old world, the cattle egret invaded North America during the 1950s
and has become the most common heron in some areas.
Yellow feet on black legs mark the snowy egret.
This graceful, medium-sized egret also has a black bill with a yellow spot near the base.
The snowy egret feeds actively in shallow water, often stirring up prey with rapid movements of its feet.
Like other herons, it may wander far north of its breeding range.
The immature snowy egret has dull yellow-green legs and feet,
and some gray at the base of the bill, making it less distinctively marked than the adult.
Despite its name, the immature little blue heron is all white at first and looks similar to the immature snowy egret.
However, the young little blue has dusky tips to the wings and more extensive gray on the bill.
Little blue herons tend to feed more quietly than snowy egrets, often wading very slowly in deeper water.
Adults are dark indigo blue with purple and maroon shading. Their bills are blue at the base.
The little blue heron is common in the east, very rare and local in the west.
Another bird that seems misnamed at times is the reddish egret, which is sometimes all white.
White plumage is not related to age. A reddish egret is either dark or white for life,
and young of both colors may come from the same nest.
Adults of either may be recognized by their fairly large size, pink and black bill, and shaggy neck plumes.
Young birds are less shaggy and have darker bills.
Feeding behavior is another clue. The reddish egret often lurches about erratically in the shallows, spreading its wings.
Foraging mainly in salt water, the reddish egret is uncommon and local along our southeastern coast.
The very long slender bill, long neck, and long legs give the elegant tricolored heron a distinctive silhouette.
Its diagnostic field marks are the white belly and the white stripe up the front of the neck.
The head and neck are otherwise dark blue-gray in adults, rufous in immatures.
Primarily a southeastern bird, the tricolored heron also nests locally inland, sometimes as far north as the Dakotas.
Along creeks and wooded riverbanks, the little green-backed heron leads a more solitary existence than most of its larger relatives.
It is never seen in flocks, and nesting is usually by isolated pairs, not in colonies.
The adult green-backed heron is known by its black crown feathers, sometimes raised in a bushy crest, its chestnut neck, and its blue-green back.
Immatures are browner, with brown stripes on the neck and white scaling on the back.
In flight, at a distance, this small heron looks much like a crow.
The green-backed heron is widespread and common, especially in the eastern United States.
Although it is sometimes active by day, the black-crowned night heron usually lives up to its name.
This chunky, short-necked heron does most of its fishing at night, standing motionless or stalking very slowly at the water's edge.
The black-crowned night heron is one of the most widespread herons in North America, and in other parts of the world as well.
It is often depicted in Japanese paintings.
The adult is smartly patterned in monochrome, but the immature is brown, with white spots and streaks.
Very similar to the immature black-crowned is the immature yellow-crowned night heron.
The yellow-crowned is slightly grayer, with smaller white spots, and has a heavier and blacker bill.
Its longer legs are noticeable in flight when the feet extend well past the end of the tail.
The adult is very distinctive, although the so-called yellow on its crown is actually creamy white.
Yellow-crowned night herons may forage by day or night, feeding largely on crabs.
In the deep south, they are more common than their black-crowned relatives.
Bitterns are secretive brown herons of the marshes.
When approached, a bittern may stand motionless with its bill pointing skyward to try to blend in with the cattails and reeds.
Our smallest heron, the tiny leased bittern, is not often seen even in areas where it is common.
When it allows a look, usually climbing in the reeds or fluttering low over the marsh,
it is easily recognized by its buff wing patches and its contrasting dark crown and back.
Black in males, brown in females.
The leased bittern withdraws from most of its northern range in winter.
During migration, it occasionally shows up in odd habitats far from water.
Much larger than the leased bittern, the American bittern resembles an immature night heron,
but has a heavy, dark stripe on the neck and shows more contrast in the wings in flight.
Although it is widespread, it is uncommon over much of its range and has declined as marshes have been drained.
The American bittern's distinctive pumping song is heard mainly on spring evenings.
The ibises and spoonbills are medium-sized wading birds with distinctive bill shapes.
Unlike herons, they fly with their necks fully extended.
Blackish-brown birds with strongly decurved bills, usually seen probing in shallow water,
the glossy ibis and white-faced ibis cannot be mistaken for any other birds, except each other.
They are best distinguished by range.
Glossy ibis is typical of the Atlantic seaboard, Florida, and the eastern Gulf states,
while white-faced ibis is found from Louisiana through much of the western United States.
The two species overlap in the central Gulf coast.
In breeding season, when their plumage is richly colored with dark green and chestnut,
they may be separated by face colors.
The dark gray facial skin of glossy ibis develops a pale blue border.
The facial skin of white-faced ibis turns bright red and is surrounded by a band of white feathers.
Immatures and winter adults are much duller and grayer with dark faces.
In adult plumage, the white ibis is completely white except for the bright red face, bill,
and legs and black spots on each wingtip.
Immatures are largely brown with white underparts and dull red bills.
Flocks of white ibis is probed at the mud in shallow waters seeking a variety of prey.
Catfish are among their favored foods.
The white ibis is common and apparently increasing in coastal areas of the southeast.
A distant flock of roseate spoonbills is a beautiful sight.
At close range, their naked green heads and odd paddle-shaped bills make them seem less attractive.
Immatures are much paler pink with feathered white heads.
Spoonbills in North America are found in coastal Texas or Florida.
Flocks of spoonbills wade in shallow water, swinging their bills from side to side.
The only other pink wading birds are flamingos, which have angular bills and black wingtips.
Most flamingos seen in North America have escaped from zoos.
The only stork normally found in North America, the wood stork, is known by its great size,
its white and black wing pattern, and its heavy, down-curved bill.
In adult wood storks, the head is dark gray and unfeathered, and the bill is dark.
Young birds have yellow bills, and their heads are feathered and paler gray.
Flocks of wood storks may be seen wading in shallow water or soaring high over the swamps.
In the United States, the wood stork nests very locally from Florida to South Carolina,
but wanderers from these colonies or from Mexico may show up anywhere in the southeastern states during the summer.
Cranes are very large birds with long legs, long necks, and often dramatic voices.
They use their heavy bills for probing in the soil, either under the water or on dry land,
pulling up roots and seeds, as well as insects, fish, and small aquatic animals.
Flocks of cranes may be seen feeding in dry fields at times.
Unlike herons, cranes hold their necks fully extended in flight.
The hooping crane is North America's tallest bird and one of its rarest.
The wild population now numbers a little over 100.
However, this represents a major success story for conservationists.
At one time, the population was down to only about two dozen birds.
Most hoopers nest in remote areas of Canada and winter on the Texas coast.
In migration, they and their smaller cousins the sandhill cranes may stop along the Platte River in Nebraska,
where the Audubon Society maintains a bird refuge.
Recently, scientists have placed hooping crane eggs in sandhill crane nests in Idaho
and have thereby established another small flock that summers in Idaho and winters in New Mexico.
With its huge size and white plumage with black wingtips, the adult hooping crane is almost unmistakable.
Immature hooping cranes are browner than adults.
Although it is a vulnerable species, the sandhill crane is still common in some of the wilder parts of North America.
Flocks numbering in the thousands gather in winter at a few favored refuges in the southwest
or during migration at stopovers on the Great Plains.
The sandhill crane might be mistaken for the great blue heron,
but the crane is grayer overall with bare red skin on the head
and it flies with its neck fully extended, not hunched on its shoulders.
Some populations of sandhill cranes are highly migratory,
while others, such as those nesting in Florida, are permanent residents.
In a family by itself is the limkin.
This gangly, crane-like bird of the southern swamps and marshes feeds mainly on large pomaceous snails,
extracting them from their shells with its long, slightly curved bill.
The shape of this bill separates the limkin from immature night herons,
which are also spotted and streaked with brown and white.
In North America, the limkin is rare outside of Florida.
Limpkins fly with their necks fully extended, but with the neck and legs drooping somewhat.
Their loud, wailing cries echo through the swamps, mainly at night,
and the birds are often most active at dusk.
Found worldwide, the rail family includes a diverse assemblage of water birds.
The typical rails are slim, rather chicken-like birds that hide in dense marshes.
Coots, moorhens, and galanules are also marsh birds, but they spend more time swimming in open water.
The clattering cackle of the clapper rail is a familiar sound in coastal salt marshes.
The bird usually stays hidden, but a patient watcher may see the clapper swimming a channel
or stalking along a mudflat at low tide.
Along the Atlantic seaboard and the Gulf, the clapper rail is never found away from the immediate coast,
but it occurs well inland at a few spots in the southwest.
Depending on locality, clapper rails vary from tawny brown to grayish.
They usually appear quite drab, however.
Like a freshwater marsh version of the clapper rail, the king rail is more brightly colored,
with rich, rusty striping on the back, chestnut shoulders, and strong black and white barring on the flanks.
Some of its calls are almost identical to those of the clapper rail.
The king rail is restricted to the eastern half of North America and is uncommon in most areas.
Half the size of the king rail, the Virginia rail is also rich, rusty in color,
but it has strongly contrasting gray cheeks.
Young birds seen in late summer are much darker than adults.
The Virginia rail is often very common in both salt and freshwater marshes.
Its distinctive calls may sometimes be heard from all directions in response to thunder
or any other sudden loud noise over the marsh.
This and the next species are the most generally distributed rails in North America.
A short-billed rail that is widespread and common, the sora seems to be less secretive than many of its relatives.
It is often seen walking along the edge of the marsh.
The whistling and whinnying calls of the sora may be heard at any season in marshes across much of North America.
The adult sora is recognized by its yellow bill, black face, and gray chest.
The immature is much more buffy and lacks the black face.
The yellow rail is very rarely seen because it hides so effectively in dense marshes and wet fields.
It is buffy like the immature sora, but in flight it shows a white patch in each wing.
Its metallic ticking song is heard mostly at night in summer on the prairie marshes where it nests.
On its winter range, the yellow rail is rarely detected.
Also very elusive is the tiny black rail, small as a sparrow.
The downy young of some other rails are also black.
To identify the black rail by sight, be sure to note the chestnut patch on its nape.
Its odd chirping song is heard mostly late at night.
Most black rails are found in coastal marshes, but some nest in local populations far inland.
The gallinules, moorhens, and coots are usually easier to see than the typical rails.
Bright colors make the adult purple gallinule unmistakable.
Its plumage is glossed purple and green, its bill is red and blue,
and when it walks on lily pads or clamors about in marsh vegetation, its yellow legs are conspicuous.
Juveniles are plain, buffy brown without distinctive markings.
The purple gallinule is mostly a bird of the deep south, but wanderers occasionally turn up well to the north.
More duck-like in habits than the purple gallinule but more secretive than the American coot,
the common moorhen is usually seen swimming near marshy spots where it can slip into the reeds if danger threatens.
It is known by its charcoal color, with a white stripe along the side above the waterline
and its habit of bobbing its head as it swims.
Its bill and bare forehead are mostly bright red in summer, duller in winter.
Numerous all year in freshwater marshes of the southern states,
the common moorhen is only a summer visitor in the northeast.
One of the most common water birds in some areas, the American coot is often mistaken for a duck
because it spends most of its time swimming.
However, no duck is all slaty black with a thick white bill.
Coots may feed by diving underwater, stealing food from other birds or walking about on shore.
Its large, lobed feet are conspicuous.
In taking flight, it must begin by splashing along the water's surface to gain speed.
Although the American coot is widespread, it is absent in the far north
and uncommon in the east in summer.
The beaches and mud flats of the world are inhabited by a multitude of plovers,
sandpipers, and other birds known collectively as the shorebirds.
Many nest in the Arctic and migrate long distances every spring and fall.
Most are patterned in shades of brown, gray, black, and white.
Their diverse bill shapes reflect their adaptations to special feeding habits.
In identifying a new shorebird, the first step is to carefully note its size and shape,
including the length of its neck, legs, and wingtips, and the shape of its bill.
In most cases, this will narrow the choice down to a few possibilities.
Next, notice its behavior, the pattern of its underparts, and the color of its legs.
If the bird flies, look for any pattern of white in the wings and tail,
and listen for any call notes.
Plovers are compact shorebirds with short necks, short bills, and rather short legs.
They're usually found in pairs or small flocks,
and they generally feed by running a few steps and then stopping to pick at insects
or other tiny creatures on the ground.
Although most kinds are found on mudflats or sandy beaches,
a few inhabit dry fields far from water.
Our plovers come in two basic patterns,
those with a black and white collared effect, and those without.
Our only plover with two black neck rings is the killdeer, named for its call.
It is also the most widespread plover in North America,
and the most versatile, often found away from water.
It may place its simple nest on a roadside, in a field, or even on a gravel roof.
When threatened at its nest, the killdeer may try to lead an intruder away
by pretending to be injured.
Dragging pitifully along the ground, displaying its rufous rump and tail,
the bird will suddenly seem to recover when the danger has been lured far enough from the nest.
Of the four small plovers with single neck rings,
two have dark brown backs, and two have pale sandy brown backs.
The semi-palmated plover is the one with the dark brown back, short bill, and orange legs.
It breeds across the Arctic and winters along southern coastlines.
In migration, it may appear anywhere in the interior.
The name of the semi-palmated plover refers to the slight webbing between its toes.
Along the Gulf and southern Atlantic coast, Wilson's plover is an uncommon breeding bird,
more localized in winter.
This is another plover with a dark brown back, but its legs are dull flesh colored,
and its bill is all black, and much longer and heavier than that of the semi-palmated plover.
The broad neck ring is black in adult males, brown in females, and juveniles.
The pale back of the snowy plover blends well with dry sand beaches and alkali flats around inland lakes.
Other field marks include the thin, black bill and blackish legs.
The neck ring of the snowy plover is broken into separate patches on either side,
which are black in summer adults, gray in juveniles, and winter birds.
A small pale-backed plover on the Pacific coast is undoubtedly the snowy.
Inland or on the Gulf coast, such a bird could be either a snowy plover or a piping plover.
Both on the Atlantic coast and in the interior, the piping plover seems to be declining in numbers,
probably because of disturbances to its habitat.
On this pale-backed plover, the black neck ring may be either broken or complete.
It has a shorter bill and darker face than the snowy plover, and its legs are usually orange.
Juveniles and winter birds have the black markings on the face and neck replaced by gray.
One of the plainest plovers at all seasons is the mountain plover.
Despite its name, it is never found in the mountains.
It nests on dry, open plains just east of the Rockies and winters on bare, open fields in the southwest.
These two big plovers are rather similar at all seasons.
Most lesser golden plovers fly to South America for the winter.
Their main migration route is through the Great Plains, with some also going down the Atlantic coast in fall.
Those from western Alaska fly to Pacific islands, with a few wintering in California.
The black-bellied plover, another Arctic breeder, winters commonly along our beaches.
It is more common than the golden plover in coastal areas.
In juvenile and winter plumages, the black-bellied plover is grayer and paler overall.
It looks more bulky with a heavier bill.
Lesser golden plovers are warmer brown, with more delicate proportions and smaller bills.
In breeding plumage, the upper parts are spangled with gold on the golden plover, with silver on the black-bellied plover.
The black on the underparts is usually more solid and extensive on the golden.
At all seasons, the golden plover has unmarked dark wings and tail,
while the black-bellied plover shows a bold white stripe and a black patch under the base of each wing,
markings absent on the lesser golden plover.
The sandpipers form the largest and most diverse family of shorebirds.
In body size, they may be as small as sparrows or as large as ducks, and their bills may be short or long.
Many sandpipers have three different plumages.
In addition to the breeding and winter plumages of adults,
there is also a juvenile plumage worn by young birds during their first southward migration.
When these juveniles appear in late summer and fall, they are more distinctly marked than adults at the same season.
Most sandpipers nest only in the Arctic, migrate in flocks, and are most common along the coast.
The spotted sandpiper, an exception to all these rules, is one of the most familiar members of its family,
found along creeks, rivers, and ponds of all sizes.
It is plain brown above.
Adults in summer have bold black spots on the underparts.
Juveniles and winter adults are white below, with a brown smudge on either side of the chest.
At all seasons, the spotted sandpiper may be known by its constant teetering motion as it walks.
It flies low over the water with stiff, shallow wingbeats.
This sandpiper is usually seen alone along shady riverbanks, narrow creeks, and the muddy margins of small ponds.
Shaped like a slightly taller, slimmer version of the spotted sandpiper,
the solitary is dark brown above with fine white spots and has a complete white eye ring.
Breeding in northern forests, the solitary sandpiper often lays its eggs in an old nest of a robin or some other songbird.
It winters mostly in the tropics.
The two species of yellowlegs are quite similar to each other at all seasons.
These are slender sandpipers with long, bright yellow legs.
Bill shape is the best field mark for separating them.
The lesser yellowlegs has a thin, straight, and all-black bill.
In greater yellowlegs, the bill is longer, thicker at the base,
often appears slightly upturned and may have some gray at the base.
Voice is another good distinction.
Lesser yellowlegs has a flat, whistled call, often of two syllables.
Greater yellowlegs has a loud, ringing whistle, usually three-noted.
Both species nest in the far north and migrate throughout most of the continent.
Of the two, the greater yellowlegs tends to be more common and widespread in North America during winter.
At rest, the willet seems undistinguished, except for its fairly large size and rather stout, straight bill.
It is a bit larger than the greater yellowlegs and has dark gray legs.
Its breeding plumage is heavily mottled, very plain and gray in winter.
When the willet flies, however, it becomes one of the most distinctive shorebirds,
showing a bold pattern of black and white in the wings.
Willets nest in salt marshes along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts
and in freshwater marshes farther west, wintering commonly in coastal regions.
Godwits are large shorebirds that use their long, slightly up-curved bills for probing in the mud.
The big marbled godwit is warm cinnamon brown all over with heavy black mottling on the back.
Roofless wing linings are conspicuous in flight, and there is no white in the wings or tail.
The breeding range of the marbled godwit is centered on the northern Great Plains,
but in winter it is found mainly along the coast.
Much less common is the Hudsonian godwit, an Arctic breeder that winters in South America
and migrates mostly through the Great Plains, with a few appearing on the Atlantic coast in fall.
Compared to the marbled godwit, the Hudsonian is much more rusty in spring
and has a bold pattern of black and white in the wings and tail.
Juvenile and winter plumages are grayer.
Resting on a sandbar with the marbled godwit and some willets,
the long-billed curlew is instantly recognized by its incredibly long, down-curved bill.
This curlew is warm, buffy brown with dark mottling.
When it flies, it shows bright cinnamon under the wings, but no pattern of white in the wings or tail.
The long-billed curlew is another large shorebird that nests on the prairies of the west
and winters in coastal areas and on southwestern grasslands.
A smaller and more numerous curlew is the wimbrel.
It is shorter billed and much grayer than the long-billed curlew and has a pattern of bold black head stripes.
In flight, it shows relatively plain wings and tail with no white pattern.
The wimbrel nests on the Arctic tundra and winters in coastal regions.
It is rare in most inland areas, although large numbers stop at a few favored points in migration.
Dowagers are plump shorebirds that use their long, straight bills to probe in mud or shallow water,
using a rapid vertical motion that may suggest a sewing machine.
The two species are very similar.
Despite their names, there is overlap in their bill lengths.
Both dowagers nest in the far north and winter commonly along southern coastlines.
However, the long-billed is only a rare migrant in the northeast,
while the short-billed is the less common of the two inland.
The only way to separate the two in winter plumage and the safest way at any season is by voice.
Short-billed dowager has a short, low-pitched note, often given in threes.
Long-billed dowager, a more vocal bird, frequently gives a high, sharp note.
In breeding plumage, long-billed tends to have darker and more solid rufous on the underparts.
Short-bills, especially those migrating along either coast, often have white bellies.
Like a dowager on a diet, the stilt sandpiper is a slimmer, smaller,
but longer-legged bird that feeds with the same vertical probing motion.
It looks quite different in breeding garb when it has rusty cheeks and heavy barring on the underparts.
The winter juvenile is much plainer gray.
The legs of the stilt sandpiper are usually olive, but sometimes yellow.
It may be separated from the two yellow legs by its feeding habit and by its slightly drooped bill.
Another Arctic nester, the stilt sandpiper migrates most commonly through the interior.
Dumpy, short-legged, and long-billed, the common snipe is heavily striped and barred with brown,
allowing it to blend in with stands of dead grass.
It is a bird of swampy places, living in marshes and wet fields as well as spruce bogs and tundra in summer.
On its winter range, it is less secretive.
Flushed from the marsh, it makes off in rapid flight, either direct or in a zigzag pattern looking long-billed.
In early summer, the snipe may be more conspicuous,
perching on fence posts or the tops of small trees to call.
Our only shorebird likely to be found in dense thickets and woodlands is the bizarre American woodcock.
This short-legged, round-bodied bird uses its long bill to probe for earthworms.
Its large eyes are set high on its head so that it may watch for danger while probing in the mud.
The camouflaged pattern of the woodcock's back helps it to blend in with the leaf litter.
Although the woodcock is widespread in eastern North America,
its secretive nature makes it easy to overlook for much of the year.
The habits of fallow ropes set them apart.
Females are more colorful than males who incubate the eggs and raise the young.
Fallow ropes are also the only sandpipers that regularly swim.
Wilson's fallow rope is mainly a bird of prairie ponds, wintering mostly in South America.
In breeding plumage, Wilson's fallow rope is gray and white with strong black and chestnut neck stripes.
Winter plumaged adults are plain gray and white.
Nesting in the far north, the red-necked fallow rope winters mostly at sea in the southern hemisphere.
It is a regular migrant on lakes and ponds in the west, but in the east it is rarely seen except off the Atlantic coast.
Smaller and shorter build than Wilson's fallow rope, the red-necked shows a stronger face and back pattern in juvenile and winter plumages
and a conspicuous rufous neck patch in breeding plumage.
The red fallow rope is unmistakable in breeding garb with chestnut underparts and a white face.
In winter it looks much like the red-necked fallow rope, but its bill is thicker and is often pale at the base and its back is a plainer gray.
Another tundra nester that winters at sea, the red fallow rope is rarely seen on inland waters south of the Arctic, even on migration.
Several of the medium-sized to small sandpipers are typically found on rocks along the immediate coast.
Four of these are very similar in winter plumage, being very dark gray on the back, head and chest, and three of these four may be found together on the Pacific coast.
On the Atlantic coast, the only dark gray sandpiper of the coastal rocks is the so-called purple sandpiper.
It is most common in winter on the rocky shorelines of maritime Canada and New England.
Farther south flocks may be found on rock jetties.
Besides its dark color, it may be known by its orange legs and slightly drooping bill.
In breeding plumage, rarely seen by most birders, it is browner overall.
Extremely similar to the purple sandpiper in winter, but occurring only on the Pacific coast, is the rock sandpiper.
Another northerly bird, it is rare in winter as far south as San Francisco.
To separate the rock sandpiper from two similar species, it is important to note that the bill is longer than its head and somewhat drooped at the tip.
A regular companion of the rock sandpiper on rocky Pacific shorelines is the surf bird.
In winter plumage, both are mostly slaty gray with white bellies.
However, the surf bird is larger and chunkier with shorter legs and a short, thick bill with an orange spot at the base.
In summer, the surf bird has heavy spotting below and patches of rust on the back.
The surf bird takes on a different existence in summer when it nests above tree line in northern mountains.
In winter, it moves farther south than the rock sandpiper.
The third dark gray sandpiper of rocky Pacific shorelines is the black turnstone.
It has a short bill, tapering to a point and slightly upturned at the tip.
In winter plumage, the bird shows less dark spotting on the flanks than either the surf bird or the rock sandpiper.
It is handsome in breeding plumage, mostly black with a white spot before the eye.
The black turnstone is limited to the Pacific coast and inhabits coastal regions even on its Alaskan nesting grounds.
Much more widespread is the ruddy turnstone, but this bird also concentrates in coastal areas.
It is less restricted to rocky spots and may be found on sandy beaches where it often uses its short wedge-shaped bill to turn over pebbles as it hunts for food.
In winter plumage, this is one of our most distinctive shorebirds.
In winter it is much browner than the black turnstone with a more contrasting chest pattern and it has bright orange legs.
Both turnstone species are striking in flight with patches of white in the wings, rump and tail.
The teetering and head-bobbing behavior of the wandering tattler may seem reminiscent of a spotted sandpiper.
However, the tattler is larger, longer billed and grayer.
This is another bird found on rocky shorelines along the Pacific coast in migration and in winter.
In breeding plumage, the wandering tattler is heavily marked on the underparts with transverse bars.
The most widespread sandpiper of open sandy beaches and rocky shorelines is the sanderling.
Pale as a ghost in winter, this is the familiar bird that is often seen racing the way up and down the beach.
The rufous brown breeding plumage is not so well known because the sanderling molts into this plumage in late spring just before it leaves to migrate to the Arctic.
The nesting grounds of the sanderling are mostly well above the Arctic Circle and it winters on coastlines around the world.
A chunky bird of the open beaches, the red knot is most easily recognized in breeding plumage when its face and underparts are pale orange rufous.
In winter plumage, the knot is much plainer, gray above and white below, and is best known by shape.
Juveniles have a more scaly pattern on the back.
Although they are widespread in coastal areas, red knots tend to be very local, forming concentrations in a few key spots year after year.
Several of the smallest sandpipers are known collectively as peeps and they can be difficult to tell apart.
Smallest of all is the least sandpiper.
Compared to western and semi-palmated sandpipers, the least sandpiper tends to be more numerous inland and on fresh waters, less common on the immediate coast.
With a close view, it shows a finely pointed bill and its legs are yellowish or greenish, not black.
Least sandpiper tends to be browner, less gray than the other peeps, with a darker brown wash across the chest.
Nearly as small as least sandpiper, but paler on the chest and grayer overall, the semi-palmated sandpiper is often abundant on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts in migration.
At close range, it shows black legs and a short, blunt-tipped bill.
Although it is rather plain all year, in breeding plumage the semi-palmated sandpiper develops fine streaking on the chest and a faint, rusty wash on the face and back.
It winters in the tropics, so a similar bird seen in winter is almost certain to be the western sandpiper.
In winter plumage, western and semi-palmated sandpipers are almost identical, but the western has a slightly longer bill.
At other seasons, the western is more colorful. Summer adults are marked with rufous on the face and back and much black spotting on the underparts.
Juveniles usually show a pattern of rufous and gray on the back. Although it nests only in the western Arctic, the western sandpiper spreads eastward across the continent in migration.
It is rare only in the northeastern United States and eastern Canada.
The winter dunlin is a medium-sized gray sandpiper, distinguished by its rather long, slightly droop-tipped bill.
It might be confused with western sandpiper, but the dunlin is larger and is noticeably darker gray, especially on the chest.
This is one of the more common coastal sandpipers in winter, staying through the season rather far north on both coasts.
When the dunlin prepares to go north to its Arctic nesting grounds, it molts into a much brighter plumage, with rusty tones on the upper parts and a black patch on the belly.
Despite its name, the white rump of this sandpiper is not a good field mark because it is covered by the folded wings until the bird flies.
At rest, the white rump is more easily recognized by its size, a little larger than the common small peeps, and its elongated shape with the wingtips extending past the end of the tail.
The adult has fine streaking on the chest. The white rump sandpiper is a common migrant in the Great Plains, uncommon farther east, and rare in the west.
Plain in appearance, Baird's sandpiper is another impressive traveler, going from the high Arctic to winter in southern South America.
Its migrations through North America are mostly through the Great Plains, and it is uncommon on the coasts.
Baird's is similar to the white-rumped sandpiper in shape, with long wingtips, but it appears browner in all plumages.
Resembling the small peep sandpipers but noticeably larger is the pectoral sandpiper.
It appears streaky and brown. Its best field mark is the strongly bicolored pattern of its underparts, with the heavily streaked breast set off sharply from the white belly.
In migration, pectoral sandpipers are more likely to be seen in marshes or grassy flats.
Nesting in the high Arctic, the pectoral sandpiper winters in southern South America.
An uncommon shorebird, the buff-breasted sandpiper, migrates mostly through the Great Plains.
A few appear on the Atlantic coast in fall.
The buff-breasted sandpiper may be recognized by its yellow legs, dark back, and entirely warm buff underparts.
Its rounded head and plain, buffy face give it a gentle expression.
Rarely found on the shore, the graceful upland sandpiper is more likely to be seen standing on a fence post in prairie country.
This is primarily a bird of the Great Plains, and it has become rare and local in the east.
It winters in South America. Besides its habitat, the most distinctive thing about the upland sandpiper is its shape.
It has a thin neck, rather small, rounded head, and long wingtips and tail.
Streaked and mottled with brown, the upland sandpiper is well camouflaged for hiding in dry grass.
It flies with stiff wingbeats, rather like a spotted sandpiper.
Gleaning the kelp-covered rocks at low tide along the Pacific coast is the black oyster catcher.
This stocky shorebird uses its heavy, blade-like bill to pry open mollusks and to probe in crevices for other tidepool creatures.
Our only shorebird with entirely dark plumage, the black oyster catcher is easily recognized by the colors of its bill, legs, and eyes.
Although it is found the length of the Pacific coast, the black oyster catcher is rare where there are no rocky outcroppings.
On the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, the boldly patterned American oyster catcher is conspicuous.
Unlike the black oyster catcher of the West, it inhabits sandy beaches, not rocky coastlines, and it is often seen in flocks.
Because of increasing human use of the beach, American oyster catchers have been forced to move from mainland beaches to coastal islands in many areas.
Their numbers have declined in some regions where no alternative sites are available.
Waiting in the shallows on incredibly thin, long, coral-red legs, picking daintily at insects on the surface of the water, the black-necked stilt is unmistakable.
Its delicate appearance is belied by its harsh yapping calls heard when intruders come near its nest or any other time it is agitated.
The black-necked stilt has a patchy distribution in the warmer parts of North America, common in some places and absent from others.
It nests on the ground near water, often in loose colonies.
Often found alongside the black-necked stilt, the American avocet feeds in a different way. It sweeps the up-curved tip of its bill back and forth through the shallows, evidently finding much of its food by touch, not by sight.
Slender proportions and black and white back stripes make the avocet easily recognized at all seasons.
In summer, its head and neck are cinnamon-colored. In winter, these areas molt to pale gray.
Most common and widespread in the West, the American avocet is also found along the Atlantic coast, where it seems to be increasing.
This family includes a variety of water birds that are all strong and graceful fliers.
The gulls and terns are among the most familiar birds of the waterside throughout North America.
Black skimmer is restricted to the coast, mainly in the southeast, while the jaegers are rarely seen in most parts of North America.
The three jaegers are predatory seabirds that summer in the Arctic and spend the rest of the year at sea.
Adult jaegers all have black caps and white flashes in the wings, but their underparts may be dark or light, with or without a dark band across the chest.
Their bodies differ mainly in size and tail shape.
The parasitic jaeger is the one most likely to be seen from shore, especially along the Pacific coast.
It is the medium-sized member of the trio, and its central tail feathers are sharply pointed.
Largest of the three is the pomerene jaeger.
It is bulky and powerful in flight, and its central tail feathers are broadly rounded or spoon-shaped at the tip.
Away from the Arctic, the pomerene tends to be farther offshore than the parasitic jaeger.
Smallest and most graceful is the long-tailed jaeger, known by its very long central tail feathers.
Rarely seen except in the Arctic, the long-tailed jaeger migrates far offshore and winters south of the equator.
The so-called seagulls are more typical of the shore than of the open sea.
They also occur around lakes and rivers throughout North America.
Many are scavengers, feeding around harbors, dumps, and dam spillways in winter.
Their populations have increased as a result of man's activities.
Most gulls nest in colonies, placing their nests close together on the ground.
Adult gulls are crisply patterned in white, gray, and black, although their heads become somewhat mottled in winter.
To sort out the various gulls in adult plumage, note their comparative sizes, darkness of the back,
color of the bill and legs, and pattern of the wingtips.
In the following accounts, gull species are grouped by pattern type, those with black heads, those with dark backs, and so on.
Immature gulls are usually very brown during their first winter,
gradually attaining adult plumage over the space of two to four years.
Identifying gulls is generally more difficult on the Pacific coast than elsewhere because there are more species there.
The herring gull typifies the group of gulls with pale gray backs, white heads, and black and white patterned wingtips.
It is the largest of this group, and as an adult, the bill is mostly plain yellow and its legs are pink.
Young herring gulls are all dusky brown at first,
gradually assuming the gray and white adult plumage by the time they are four years old.
In the east, an immature gull that is solidly dark brown is almost sure to be a herring gull.
On the Pacific coast, it could also be a California gull or a western gull.
Abundant on the coast and common around larger lakes inland, the herring gull has been extending its range in recent decades.
Widespread and common, often outnumbering the herring gull on inland waters, the ring-billed gull is noticeably smaller.
As an adult, it has yellowish legs and a black ring on the bill.
Immature ring-bills are paler and grayer, less brown than herring gulls of the same age.
Their breeding colonies are local, but ring-billed gulls occur practically everywhere in southern Canada
and the lower 48 states during migration or winter.
Intermediate between ring-billed and herring gulls in size, the California gull is found only in the west.
Its back is slightly darker than the herring gulls, and the white spots in its wing tips are larger.
Its legs are greenish, its eyes are dark, and it has a small red and black spot on the bill.
Immatures are very brown at first, with a bicolored pink and black bill.
Nesting around interior lakes, the California gull winters on the Pacific coast.
In summer, these gulls may eat many insects.
Normally found only in the west, the mew gull is the smallest of the gulls that wear the herring gull type of pattern in adulthood.
It has a small, plain yellow bill, rounded head, and dark eyes, giving it a gentle expression.
The white spots in its wing tips are much larger than those of the ring-billed gull.
Mew gulls nest inland in Alaska and western Canada, but they winter almost entirely on the Pacific coast.
One of the most common gulls on the Atlantic coast, the laughing gull wears a black hooded effect in summer.
It loses the black hood in winter, but may still be known by its size, somewhat smaller than the ring-billed gull,
and its fairly dark gray back shading into black wing tips.
Immatures are much browner, especially during their first autumn and winter.
The strident laughing calls of the laughing gull echo over its colonies, where hundreds or even thousands may nest in a few acres of marsh.
Mainly coastal, the laughing gull may be found short distances up some major rivers and at the Salton Sea in southern California.
The prairie heartland of the continent provides the summer home for Franklin's gull,
another medium-sized species that wears a black hood in breeding plumage.
Unlike the laughing gull of the Atlantic coast, Franklin's has a mostly white wing tip, crossed by a ragged black bar.
The immature is similar to the young laughing gull, but has a smaller bill and a somewhat cleaner, less brownish appearance.
Franklin's is found on northern prairies in summer and spends the winter on the west coast of South America.
Smallest of the common gull species in North America is Bonaparte's gull.
Besides a black hood in summer, it is marked by a narrow triangle of white on the outer part of each wing.
This wing pattern will identify Bonaparte's gull in winter as well when it lacks the dark hood.
Immatures are similar, but have more black edging in the wings.
Flocks of Bonaparte's are often found away from concentrations of the larger gulls in winter.
Summering in the region of northern lakes and forests, Bonaparte's gull often places its nest several feet off the ground on a tree branch.
Biggest and blackest-backed of the gulls of North America, the great black-backed gull is unmistakable in adult plumage.
It is found only in the east.
Immatures can be recognized by their very large size, heavy bill, and rather checkered pattern on the back until the black of adult plumage begins to appear.
Mainly a bird of the coast, the great black-backed gull shows up in small numbers on the Great Lakes, but it is rare on most inland waters.
Although its range has been expanding southward, it is still uncommon in Florida and very rare on the Gulf Coast.
The darkest-backed gull on the Pacific Coast is the western gull.
It is about the size of the herring gull, but more bulky looking, and its back is very dark gray, not black.
Immatures are all brown at first and look very similar to young herring gulls, but have heavier bills.
The western gull is another species with a strong preference for the coast, rarely found more than a few miles inland.
The glaucus winged gull is actually a very close relative of the western gull, and the two are almost exactly the same shape.
But the glaucus winged is paler, and its wing tips are patterned with gray, not black.
Wintering all along the Pacific Coast, the glaucus winged breeds farther north than the western.
They hybridize where their ranges meet, producing birds of intermediate appearance.
A pale bird of the far north, the glaucus, is also one of our largest gulls.
Found all year in the Arctic, it is only an uncommon winter visitor south of the Canadian border.
As an adult, the glaucus gull is pale gray above and has pure white wing tips.
It looks bulky and heavy billed. Even as an immature, its wing tips are very pale.
The young bird can also be recognized by its large size and strongly bicolored bill.
Like a petite version of the glaucus gull, the Iceland gull is found only in the northeast.
It is a little smaller than the herring gull, with a smaller bill and more rounded head.
Its wing tips are either white or patterned with gray, not black.
Immatures are pale, buffy brown at first, and almost pure white in some later stages.
Nesting in the high Arctic, the Iceland gull winters mostly in eastern Canada.
Many scientists believe that Thayer's gull is only a slightly darker race of the Iceland gull.
Their winter ranges differ. Iceland gull in the northeast, Thayer's on the Pacific coast.
The adult Thayer's resembles a small herring gull, but its eye is dark brown, not yellow,
and its wing tips look paler in flight.
Young Thayer's gulls in their first winter look like bleached young herring gulls.
Compared to young glaucus winged gulls, Thayer's are smaller and have darker wing tips.
Although it nests in Mexico, Heermann's gull is a common visitor along the Pacific coast of the United States.
It is one of our most distinctive gulls.
The red-billed adult is mostly dark gray with a white head in breeding plumage,
and its tail is black with a neat white band at the tip.
The first year Heermann's is our darkest gull, entirely unmarked, sooty brown.
Second year birds have bicolored bills and are darker and browner than adults.
Heermann's gulls wander far north from their Mexican colonies mainly in summer,
but a few can be found along the California coast at all seasons.
One of the few gulls that is found regularly far out at sea is the black-legged kitty wake.
In summer it nests on rocky cliffs and islands in the far north.
In winter it lives on the open ocean, but flocks are sometimes seen far from shore, especially after storms.
The adult kitty wake may be known by its small size, unmarked yellow bill,
and small triangle of black at the tip of each wing.
Immatures are more boldly marked with dark diagonal bars on the wing and a black tip on the tail.
Turns are generally smaller than gulls and more graceful in flight.
Most turns feed by diving from the air to take small fish at the surface.
Because turns are not scavengers, they have not benefited from the side effects of civilization like gulls have,
and some turns have even declined because of disturbance to their nesting colonies.
Like most turns, the arctic turn has a long, forked tail and a black cap in breeding plumage.
It can be separated from similar species by its short, all-red bill and the very gray look of its underparts.
In flight, its wings look unmarked gray from above and very white from below with a narrow black trailing edge.
Arctic turn is one of the great travelers among birds.
Nesting at our higher latitudes, it migrates south at sea to spend the winter near the Antarctic Ocean.
Because of this migration pattern, it is seldom seen on land south of New England.
More widespread in North America is common turn.
It looks much like arctic turn, but the common is somewhat heavier and shorter tailed
and has a longer orange-red bill that is usually black at the tip.
Its wing tips are darker than the rest of the wing,
and in flight overhead it shows a broader dark trailing edge on the outer wing.
Nesting in colonies on beaches and lake shores in summer,
the common turn spends the winter mostly south of the United States.
Nesting in marshes instead of on open beaches,
forester's turn is often more numerous than common turn in inland areas.
The two are very similar in summer, but forester's has much paler wing tips,
and it often looks heavier billed and longer tailed.
Because it is less migratory than most of its relatives,
a small turn seen in midwinter is likely to be forester's.
In winter, forester's turn is quite pale, and its cap is reduced to a black ear patch.
The roseate turn is quite local in North America.
It nests only in scattered colonies on the Atlantic coast,
and is usually far outnumbered by other turns.
Its bill is noticeably long and looks mostly dark for most of the year.
Flying at a distance, the roseate turn is notable for its very long tail,
very pale back, and stiff, shallow wingbeats.
Unlike most turns, it shows no dark line on the trailing edge of the wings.
At a distance, this pale turn might be mistaken for other species,
but with a good view, the gull-billed turn may be recognized by its very heavy black bill.
It also has a short tail and rather long legs for a turn.
Its feeding behavior is distinctive.
The gull-billed catches large insects in flight,
so it is often seen hunting over marshes and open fields.
As is common along southeastern coasts,
the gull-billed turn reaches the west only at the Salton Sea in southern California.
Its very small size and rapid wingbeats are usually enough to identify the least turn in flight.
With a closer view, notice the black-tipped yellow bill and triangular forehead patch.
The nesting range of least turn is scattered with colonies along rivers as well as on both coasts.
Because the beaches where it nests have been subjected to more and more human pressure,
a few special sanctuaries have been set aside for this turn.
In some areas, however, the least turn has learned to nest on gravel roofs of buildings near the coast.
Unlike many of its relatives, the black turn is primarily a bird of inland marshes,
and it is seen along the coast only in migration.
In breeding plumage, its black body and gray wings and tail make it unmistakable.
In winter plumage, seen on southbound birds in fall,
it is white below but still darker above than most turns.
When the birds are molting in late summer, they can look oddly patched with black and white.
Black turns leave North America altogether in fall, spending the winter at sea in the tropics.
Our largest turn, chunky and short-tailed, the Caspian turn may be mistaken for a gull when it is seen flying at a distance.
With a better view, it is easily recognized by its heavy, bright red bill.
Nesting colonies of Caspian turns are widely scattered.
Outside the breeding season, the birds are usually found along the coast.
Only a little smaller than Caspian turn is the royal turn.
Its bill is not as heavy and usually looks orange, not red.
The royal is also somewhat thinner and has a longer tail.
For most of the year, its forehead is white, set off by a wispy black crest.
It develops the full black cap only briefly during the nesting season.
Unlike Caspian turn, the royal turn is strictly coastal, often nesting on offshore barrier islands.
Like a smaller, slimmer version of the royal turn, the elegant turn is best known by its thinner bill,
which often looks more orange-yellow, less reddish-orange.
It is found only on the Pacific coast.
Most elegant turns breed in Mexico and move north along the coast in summer after nesting.
Another fairly large species, the sandwich turn, is often found with royal turns and even nests in the same colonies.
It is common in parts of the southeastern United States.
With a close view, the adult sandwich turn is easily recognized by its bill pattern,
black with a yellow tip, as if it had been dipped in mustard.
The bird retains its crested look all year, but develops a white forehead in winter.
Placed in a separate subfamily from the other larids,
the skimmer is unique in having its lower mandible distinctly longer than the upper.
Flying low, it trails this lower mandible in the water,
ready to snap its bill closed when it makes contact with a small fish.
Young birds are brown on the back instead of black,
but habits, shape, and bicolored pattern make black skimmers unmistakable at all seasons.
Even perched at a great distance, skimmers can be recognized by their low-slung, long-winged appearance.
The black skimmer is found strictly along the coast,
except for a few inland sites in Florida and Southern California.
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