Charadriiformes (Shorebirds, Gulls, Terns, and Allies)

Charadriiformes includes shorebirds, gulls, terns, plovers, sandpipers, snipes, woodcock, avocets, and related birds. Many members of this order are associated with water, mudflats, shorelines, wet fields, marsh edges, sandbars, and open lake or river margins, though their habits vary widely across families.

Despite that variety, many Charadriiformes share an emphasis on open-ground movement, edge habitat, water-associated feeding, and seasonal migration. Some are small, delicate waders that pick through shallow water; others are larger, more aerial birds that patrol lakes, rivers, and open sky.

In the field, these birds are often recognized by posture, leg length, bill shape, feeding motion, flocking behavior, and habitat context.

Orientation

These notes are organized by family, emphasizing comparison, behavior, and field recognition rather than a complete species list.

For Gallery pages, some members of this order may be grouped under visitor-friendly categories such as shorebirds, while the Field Notes section keeps the formal taxonomic structure.

General Characteristics

Structure: Often long-legged or long-winged, with bill shape closely tied to feeding style
Flight: Usually direct and purposeful; many shorebirds show quick, pointed-wing flight, while gulls and terns are more buoyant and aerial
Voice: Calls are often important in flight, migration, territorial display, or flock contact
Behavior: Many feed by walking, probing, picking, sweeping, or patrolling along water edges and open ground

Members of this order occupy shorelines, wetlands, mudflats, marsh edges, flooded fields, grasslands, beaches, sandbars, lakes, rivers, and open water.

Field Recognition

Birds in this order are often identified by a combination of:

Movement: Walking, probing, bobbing, running, wading, hovering, plunge-diving, or circling over water
Flight style: Fast and direct in many shorebirds; more buoyant or graceful in gulls and terns
Posture: Upright wading stance, horizontal feeding posture, long-winged flight profile, or compact ground-foraging shape
Voice: Clear flight calls, repeated contact notes, alarm calls, or display sounds
Habitat context: Mudflat, marsh edge, flooded grass, lake margin, river sandbar, open field, or open water

In many cases, behavior and habitat are as important as plumage. A small bird feeding alone in shallow freshwater, a plover running and pausing on open ground, and a tern hovering over water may all belong to the same order while requiring very different identification strategies.

Notes

Migration is central to many Charadriiformes. In Minnesota, shorebirds may appear briefly during spring and fall migration in flooded fields, marsh edges, mudflats, and shallow ponds.
Habitat can shift quickly. Temporary water, exposed mud, or flooded grass may attract birds that are absent from the same location a few days later.
Bill shape and feeding behavior are key. Probing sandpipers, running plovers, sweeping avocets, hovering terns, and circling gulls each present different identification patterns.
Size comparison matters. Many shorebirds are best identified by comparing leg length, bill length, body shape, and posture rather than relying on color alone.
Solitary Sandpiper is placed in Scolopacidae, within this order.

References

Cornell Lab of Ornithology – All About Birds
https://www.allaboutbirds.org
eBird
https://ebird.org
Birds of the World
https://birdsoftheworld.org

Charadriiformes (Shorebirds, Gulls, Terns, and Allies)