Shore Birds Of North America

An illustrated guide to all 134 shorebird species found in the Northern Hemisphere includes key identification features, age and sex differences, variations in plumage, similar species, status, habitat, and distribution.

Each year shorebirds from North and South America migrate thousands of miles to spend the summer in the Arctic. There they feed in shoreline marshes and estuaries along some of the most productive and pristine coasts anywhere. With so much available food they are able to reproduce almost explosively; and as winter approaches, they retreat south along with their offspring, to return to the Arctic the following spring. This remarkable pattern of movement and activity has been the object of intensive study by an international team of ornithologists who have spent a decade counting, surveying, and observing these shorebirds. In this important synthetic work, they address multiple questions about these migratory bird populations. How many birds occupy Arctic ecosystems each summer? How long do visiting shorebirds linger before heading south? How fecund are these birds? Where exactly do they migrate and where exactly do they return? Are their populations growing or shrinking? The results of this study are crucial for better understanding how environmental policies will influence Arctic habitats as well as the far-ranging winter habitats used by migratory shorebirds.

Shorebirds of North Americacontains over 200 color photos of all the breeding and commonly occurring shorebird species found in North America. Species accounts show breeding and nonbreeding plumages when differences occur, as well as many immature and juvenile plumages. Some similar species are shown side by side to allow for easier ID comparison, such as the dowitchers, yellowlegs and willets.