Nearctica - Natural History - Birds of Eastern North America - Scolopacidae

Shorebirds

Scolopacidae

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A Field Guide to Eastern Birds. by Roger Tory Peterson.

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The shorebirds of the family Scolopacidae are a large, cosmopolitan family found around the world. The family is diverse both in morphology and ecological preferences. The species of this family are typically associated with beaches, mudflats, and lake shores, but some species prefer prairie and grasslands, marshes, tundra, open ocean. One species, the American Woodcock is even a forest species. The most familiar of the shorebirds are the sandpipers, a group without a tight systematic base, but recognized as the shorebirds with short legs that a continually chasing the waves back and forth at the beach while letting the waves stir up the sand and the crustaceans and worms the birds feed on. These birds are commonly referred to as "Peeps." The phalaropes are an interesting group that reverse the sexual roles of most bird groups. The females are more gaudily colored than the males, and the males incubate the eggs and take care of the nestlings. The family Scolopacidae contains 90 species worldwide and 36 species breed in North America. Almost all of these species are found in eastern North America.

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Alphabetical by Common Name

American Woodcock (Scolopax minor)

Bairds's Sandpiper (Calidris bairdii)

Buff-breasted Sandpiper (Tryngites subruficollis)

Common Snipe (Gallinago gallinago)

Curlew Sandpiper (Calidris ferruginea)

Dunlin (Calidris alpina)

Great Yellowlegs (Tringa melanoleuca)

Hudsonian Godwit (Limosa haemastica)

Least Sandpiper (Calidris minutilla)

Lesser Yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes)

Long-billed Curlew (Numenius americanus)

Long-billed Dowitcher (Limnodromus scolopaceus)

Marbled Godwit (Limosa fedoa)

Pectoral Sandpiper (Calidris melanotos)

Purple Sandpiper (Calidris maritima)

Red Knot (Calidris canutus)

Red Phalarope (Phalaropus fulicaria)

Red-necked Phalarope (Phalaropus lobatus)

Ruddy Turnstone (Arenaria interpres)

Sanderling (Calidris alba)

Semipalmated Sandpiper (Calidris pusilla)

Short-billed Dowitcher (Limnodromus griseus)

Solitary Sandpiper (Tringa solitaria)

Spotted Sandpiper (Actitis macularia)

Stilt Sandpiper (Calidris himantopus)

Upland Sandpiper (Bartramia longicauda)

Western Sandpiper (Calidris mauri)

Whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus)

White-rumped Sandpiper (Calidris fuscicollis)

Willet (Catoptrophorus semipalmatus)

Wilson's Phalarope (Phalaropus tricolor)

Alphabetical by Scientific Name