Shorebirds and Gulls Flashcards
(27 cards)
Yap calls
Black-necked Stilt - Recurvirostridae
White belly, black back. Slender.
Unmistakeable, extraordinarily long red legs.
Song
Semipalmated Plover - Charadriidae
Plump, with a short neck and a round head.
Single dark band on the breast, with an orange-and-black bill.
Brown above and white below.
kill-deeeeer or
kee-dee; kee-dee; kee-dee
Killdeer- Charadriiformes
A tall and slender plover with an unusually long tail.
Distinctive dark double breastband. Pinkish legs.
A high pitched, incredibly loud and whinnying “killl-deer” call.
ch-wut wolf-whistle (long; drawn-out)
Upland Sandpiper - Scolopacidae
Thin neck, small head, and long tail.
Yellow bill and overall a buffy-brown pattern.
Call sounds like a soft trill that ends with a loud whistle that rises and falls.
Rattle and alarm calls
Ruddy Turnstone - Scolopacidae
Short orange legs and calico plumage.
Likes to flip over rocks!
Rufous-and-black wings.
Warning trill and song
Dunlin - Scolopacidae
Black patch on belly, with a long and drooping black bill.
Short legs and a speckled back.
Rhythmically repeated call and song
Least Sandpiper - Scolopacidae
Greenish-yellow legs, with relatively brown plumage. Short, fine-tipped bill.
Male song
Pectoral Sandpiper - Scolopacidae
Greenish legs, overall brown color, and dense breast streaking that tends to end abruptly at the white belly.
Tends to be larger than other sandpipers, which is distinctive.
song
Semipalmated Sandpiper - Scolopacidae
Has a short, blunt-tipped bill. Dark legs, Tends to have a “plainer” brown plumage.
Paler and greyer brown than Least Sandpiper.
song
Short-billed Dowitcher - Scolopacidae
Mostly rufous belly, spotted.
Stock, long-billed, and short-necked.
Songs during low flights and chases
Long-billed Dowitcher - Scolopacidae
Rufous neck streaked dark and an entirely rufous belly.
Dark, barred flanks unlike other sandpipers.
A series of hooting noises, which actually are produced from the outer tail feathers.
Wilson’s Snipe - Scolopacidae
Bold bars on it’s white flanks.
Striped head and back.
A series of hooting noises, which actually are produced from the outer tail feathers.
PEENT
American Woodcock - Scolopacidae
Gray above with darker stripes along back and a pale-orange belly.
Dark markings on head, but not like the stripes of the Snipe.
PEENT
Sounds like a 2 or 3 note whistled call.
Spotted Sandpiper - Scolopacidae
Spotted underparts in the summer.
Brown above, white below, with yellow legs and bill.
Sounds like a 2 or 3 note whistled call.
Has a high pitched “peet-weet” or “peet-weet-weet” which is more shrill than Spotted.
Solitary Sandpiper - Scolopacidae
Smaller than LEYE, with greener legs.
Gray above and white below, with a fine white speckling of the wings.
Has a white eyering.
Has a high pitched “peet-weet” or “peet-weet-weet” which is more shrill than Spotted.
A series of musical and whistled notes.
Greater Yellowlegs - Scolopacidae
Slender, long necked, and has bright yellow legs. Sometimes heaving barring on the flanks that extends to the belly.
Dark bill. Finely streaked neck and head.
A series of musical and whistled notes.
Lots of whistled notes followed by wavering jumbles.
Lesser Yellowlegs - Scolopacidae
Bill slightly longer than the head and straight, smaller and “cuter” than Greater.
Essentially identical to Greater.
Lots of whistled notes followed by wavering jumbles.
Song-like rapid nasal series
Wilson’s Phalarope - Scolopacidae
Females are much brighter than males and have a grey cap, black stripe through the eye and side of neck, peachy-orange neck, and a grey/rufous back.
Males are much duller with pale grey upperparts, orangeish neck, and a white throat.
Thin, needle-like bill distinguish it from other Phalaropes.
Adult alarm calls near fledglings
Bonaparte’s Gull - Laridae
Small round head with a pointy, tern-like bill.
Flashing white triangle on the outer edge of the wing.
Has an all-black hood during breeding, while nonbreeding has a white head with a black spot behind the eye.
Noisy, with varied calls. High-pitched squeals followed by short, exclamatory notes.
Ring-billed Gull - Laridae
Narrow black ring on the beak with the absence of a red spot.
Yellow legs help distinguish it from other birds with a ringed bill.
Noisy, with varied calls. High-pitched squeals followed by short, exclamatory notes.
Loud rollicking called, “ha-ha-ha-ha” alarm call, laugh-like outbursts, sounds a bit deeper than Ring-billed Gulls.
Herring Gull - Laridae
Longish pink legs and a rounded or flat topped head.
Bill droops at the tip, and lower bill has a bit of a bulge at the end.
Has a red spot on the bill.
Loud rollicking called, “ha-ha-ha-ha” alarm call, laugh-like outbursts, sounds a bit deeper than Ring-billed Gulls.
call
Glaucous Gull - Laridae
Slender, smallish bill, wingtips go past the tail.
Dark eye with a deep red orbital ring.
Deep pink legs distinguish it from herring!
calls
Great Black-backed Gull - Laridae
Fricking huge. Large and heavy bill, dull pink legs that are long and thick, and a dark charcoal to black back with a white head.
Long calls
Caspian Tern - Laridae
Distinctive thick, bright-red bill.
Solid black cap in the summer, which eventually melds into black streaks during the nonbreeding season.
