Shore birds and waders
Pied OystercatcherPhoto: K Vang and W Dabrowka © Bird Explorers
Shore birds or 'waders' are those birds commonly found on coastal shores, including beaches, rocky shores, mudflats, tidal wetlands and lagoons. These include the many plovers and sandpipers in the families Charadriidae and Scolopacidae, as well as the stone-curlews, snipes, pratincoles, oystercatchers, stilts, avocets and the Plains-wanderer.
Fact sheet list
- Australian Pratincole
- Bar-tailed Godwit
- Banded Stilt
- Beach Stone-curlew
- Black-fronted Dotterel
- Black-winged Stilt
- Bush Stone-curlew
- Comb-crested Jacana
- Common Greenshank
- Common Sandpiper
- Curlew Sandpiper
- Double-banded Plover
- Eastern Curlew
- Great Knot
- Grey Plover
- Grey-tailed Tattler
- Hooded Plover
- Latham's Snipe
- Little Curlew
- Marsh Sandpiper
- Masked Lapwing
- Oriental Plover
- Pacific Golden Plover
- Painted Snipe
- Pied Oystercatcher
- Red Knot
- Red-capped Plover
- Red-necked Stint
- Red-kneed Dotterel
- Ruddy Turnstone
- Sanderling
- Sharp-tailed Sandpiper
- Sooty Oystercatcher
- Terek Sandpiper
- Whimbrel
- Wood Sandpiper
Migrating from afar
Many wader species are migratory, traveling many thousands of kilometres to or from breeding grounds. Many waders are also the subject of detailed studies that cover the countries they breed in and migrate across. In particular, extensive drainage and reclamation of wetlands in Australasia and Asia, as well as the intensive harvesting of waterbirds in Asia, has placed many populations of migratory waders under increasing threat. Nearly 50 species that breed in northern Asia visit Australia during the southern summer, and young birds may overwinter in Australia for one or two years.
Urban waders
Some waders are common in urban areas, often visiting spaces such as parks and golf courses which have lakes or ponds that provide suitable habitat.