A Guide to Beautiful Birds that Live on the Beach

Quick Take

• One beach bird earned the nickname 'Jesus bird,' and the reason why is more fascinating than you'd expect. Meet the 'Jesus bird' →
• The term 'shorebirds' is a bit of a misnomer, given that many of these species thrive somewhere you'd never expect to find them. Explore shorebird habitats →
• One avocet species uses a feeding technique so unusual it has its own name, and watching it changes how you see bird behavior entirely. See the scything technique →
• The most abundant shorebird in North America isn't the seagull. Its population runs into the millions and most people walk right past it. Discover North America's most abundant shorebird →

Shorebirds are a diverse group of long-legged, ground-nesting birds found in wetland and coastal habitats. There are approximately 210 to 235 recognized species globally, with 90 species recorded on North America’s shores. While their name suggests a coastal preference, many of North America’s shorebirds can be found in interior wetlands, including the Prairie Potholes of the Great Plains. North American shorebirds belong to five distinct families, including oystercatchers, stilts and avocets, plovers, sandpipers, and gulls. Continue reading to learn more about the beautiful birds that live on the beach.

Jacana

Jacanas are tropical shorebirds contained in the family Jacanidae, with eight species across six genera. The two species of jacana present in North America, the Northern jacana (Jacana spinosa) and the wattled jacana (J. jacana), make up the genus Jacana.

Jacanas are the rarest species of shorebirds in the United States, where they can occasionally be spotted in Southern Texas and Arizona. The wattled jacana is not present in the U.S., but is common throughout Mexico and the Caribbean.

Jacanas are commonly called lily-trotters, lotus birds, or Jesus birds. These names stem from their exceptionally long toes and claws, which distribute their weight so they can walk across floating aquatic vegetation (such as lily pads) without sinking, giving the illusion of walking on water.

Oystercatchers

There are 11 recognized species of oystercatchers (family Haematopodidae), all of which are contained in the genus Haematopus. There are two species of oystercatchers found along North America’s shores: the American oystercatcher (Haematopus palliatus) and the black oystercatcher (H. bachmani).

Oystercatchers have long, thick, straight bills, which they use to pry open oysters, mussels, clams, and other types of shellfish. They nab the oysters, mussels, clams, and other shellfish from among the rocks and crack them open for a nice meal.

Stilts and Avocets

Stilts and avocets belong to the family Recurvirostridae, which includes four species of avocets and five species of stilts.

Only two species from this family are native to North America: the black-necked stilt (Himantopus mexicanus) and the American Avocet (Recurvirostra americana).

Black-necked stilts can be found in marshes, shallow lakes, mudflats, and retaining pools. They wade in shallow water to find food, picking it from the water’s surface.

American avocets spend most of their time foraging in saltwater or shallow freshwater wetlands. They use a feeding method called scything, sweeping their slightly open bills from side to side as they walk forward to catch prey in the water.

Plovers

Of the 65 to 69 species of plovers in the family Charadriidae, seven are native to North America, contained within two separate genera: Charadrius and Pluvialis.

The semipalmated plover (Charadrius semipalmatus) is found and breeds primarily in Canada’s Arctic tundra, although a small population of semipalmated plovers breeds in Alaska. Piping plovers (C. melodus) breed along the Atlantic Coast, the Great Lakes, and sandbars in the Great Plains. The snowy plover (C. nivosus) can be found along the Gulf and Pacific coasts of North America.

Wilson’s Plover (Charadrius wilsonia) is a strictly coastal shorebird found along the Southern Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the United States and Mexico. Wilson’s plover uses its oversized bill to capture and eat larger prey, especially fiddler crabs.

Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus) can be found near coastal wetlands, but they typically nest in drier areas. Although they eat crayfish and other small crustaceans, these shorebirds also feed on earthworms, beetles, grasshoppers, and snails. Killdeer are adept swimmers and also spend time at the beach.

The two North American plover species contained in the genus Pluvialis are the American golden-plover (Pluvialis dominica) and the black-bellied plover (P. squatarola). The American golden-plover is found in the Arctic tundra during the summer breeding season. They traverse inland North America on their migration to South America, where they overwinter. Black-bellied plovers also nest in the high Arctic tundra of Northern Canada and Alaska in the summer, but migrate to coastal regions at other times of the year.

Gulls

Although the broader family Laridae encompasses over 100 species worldwide (including terns, skimmers, and noddies), the specific subfamily of true gulls, Larinae, contains 50 to 55 species distributed across 11 distinct genera globally, with between 25 and 28 species found in North America.

The most abundant gulls in North America are the ring-billed gull (Larus delawarensis) and the American herring gull (L. argentatus). Both species are highly adaptable and frequently seen throughout the continent, from coastal shores to inland cities, landfills, and parking lots.

Sandpipers

Shorebirds in the family Scolopacidae are commonly known as sandpipers and are the most abundant and diverse family of shorebirds in North America. The Western sandpiper (Calidris mauri) holds the title of the single most abundant shorebird species in North America, boasting a population numbering in the millions. Sandpipers number 100 species, contained in 15 genera, 11 of which are present in North America.

The least sandpiper (Calidris minutilla) is one of the smallest shorebirds in North America and undertakes one of the longest migrations. Unlike other sandpipers that wade directly into the water, least sandpipers often forage on the drier, stickier upper edges of mudflats and marshes, where the soil easily cakes onto their feet.

Other sandpipers you may see in the U.S. include:

• Wilson’s Snipe
• Dunlin
• Greater Yellowlegs
• Lesser Yellowlegs
• Red Knot
• Willet
• Ruddy Turnstone
• White-rumped sandpiper
• Wood sandpiper
• Upland sandpiper
• Terek sandpiper
• Stilt sandpiper
• Sharp-tailed sandpiper
• Solitary sandpiper
• Spoon-billed sandpiper
• Spotted snadpiper
• Rock sandpiper
• Purple sandpiper
• Pectoral sandpiper
• Curlew sandpiper
• Green sandpiper
• Marsh sandpiper
• Common sandpiper
• Buff-breasted sandpiper
• Broad-billed sandpiper
• Baird’s sandpiper