Waders (Shorebirds)

This photo album display photos of Waders (Shorebirds) that belong to families placed in four suborders see Taxonomy note at the end of this page. The first gallery features thick-knees, together with oystercatchers, plover, and stilts. The second gallery displays jacanas, sandpipers/snipes, crab plover and pratincoles. These galleries show bird portraits in habitats that include coastal, wetland and a variety of terrestrial environments around the world.

Waders are called shorebirds in America, where “wader” refers to long-legged birds, such as herons and flamingos.

Thick-knees, Oystercatchers, Plovers and Stilts

Thick-knee, Oystercatcher, Plover and Stilt Notes

The Eurasian Oystercatcher, South Island [Pied] Oystercatcher and Northern Lapwing are ‘Red List 2019’ assessed as ‘Near Threatened’, all other featured species are ‘Least Concern’.

Displayed in the gallery are several endemics: The American Oystercatcher (Haematopus palliatus galapagensis) a Galapagos endemic subspecies and two New Zealand endemics; the South Island Oystercatcher (Haematopus finschi) and Variable Oystercatcher (Haematopus unicolor).

The Variable Oystercatcher is polymorphic in plumage and size. A black morph features in the gallery. The other recognised morphs are intermediate and pied.

I’ve identified the White-headed Stilt [Pied] as an immature, but it could be a female.

Jacanas, Sandpipers/Snipes, Crab Plover and Pratincoles

Jacanas, Sandpipers/Snipes, Crab Plover and Pratincoles Notes

The Great Knot is ‘Red List 2019’ assessed as ‘Endangered’, the Eurasian Curlew, Grey-tailed Tattler, Bar-tailed Godwit and Red Knot are ‘Near Threatened’ while all other featured species are ‘Least Concern’.

There are three subspecies of Whimbrel (N.p. variegatus, alboaxillaris and hudsonicus) that feature in the gallery.

There are two Common Redshank images displayed. The nominate species photographed in England and Tringa totanus eurhina in Singapore. I’ve based the identification of the latter subspecies on data published on the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum website.

Wader Taxonomy

The Waterbirds Photo Album webpage describes the higher-level taxonomy for the Wader (Shorebird) families. Charadriiformes includes twenty bird families with over 380 species ranging from shorebirds to gulls and auks. Charadriiformes splits into five suborders Chionidi, Charadrii, Limicoli, Lari and Turnici (Buttonquail).

This album includes eight of the twenty families from four suborders:
(a) Burhinidae (Thick-knees) placed in Chionidi,
(b) Haematopodidae (Oystercatchers), Charadriidae (Plovers and Dotterels) and Recurvirostridae (Stilts and Avocets) from Charadrii,
(c) Jacanidae (Jacanas) and Scolopacidae (Sandpipers and Snipes) belonging to Limicoli,
(d) Four of the five families placed in suborder Lari feature across three photo albums. In this photo album are Dromadidae (Crab Plover) and Glareolidae (Pratincoles). Laridae feature in the Gulls, Terns and Skimmers photo album and Alcidae in the Penguins and Auks photo album, part of Seabirds Photo Album collections.

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