Red-necked Phalarope

Scientific Name: Phalaropus lobatus

Range / Habitat: Breeds on tundra in the circumpolar Arctic. Winters at sea in a variety of spots near the equator.

Field Notes: Small wader, smallest of the phalaropes. Small, needle-like bill and slender neck. Brown upperparts, with some gold, white breast and chin. Rufous horseshoe-shaped collar.

Personal Notes: A ubiquitous bird in small pools of water in Iceland in the summer, but surprisingly difficult to photograph.

Purple Sandpiper

Scientific Name: Calidris maritima

Range / Habitat: Breeds on tundra and rocky areas from NE Canada through Greenland, Iceland, Scandinavia to NW Siberia. Winters on rocky coasts of E North America and NW Europe.

Field Notes: Plump, medium-sized shorebird. medium-length bill with yellow base and slight droop at end. Short yellow legs. Grey to brown head, neck and back. Underparts lighter and heavily streaked. No purple in breeding plumage and only a faint sheen in winter.

Personal Notes: A surprise find at Snaefellsjoekull National Park in Iceland.

Razorbill

Scientific Name: Alca torda

Range / Habitat: Marine species, breeding on steep mainland cliffs and rock offshore islands in subarctic waters of the Atlantic Ocean. Winters offshore from breeding areas, though often extending further south.

Field Notes: Medium-sized waterbird with black head, neck and back, white undersides. Stout, deep, and round-tipped bill has criss-crossing white lines. Often holds tail up in the air. Throat white in non-breeding plumage. Common Murre and Thick-billed Murre less stocky with longer bill, lacking characteristic marks.

Personal Notes: Part of an exceptional visit to the Latrabjarg cliffs in western Iceland.

Thick-billed Murre

Scientific Name: Uria lomvia

Range / Habitat: Exclusively marine, breeding on coastal cliffs and islands, restricted to Arctic zones with open water. Winters offshore of breeding grounds, where often found at see in large flocks.

Field Notes: Medium-sized waterbird with black head, neck and back. Clean white underparts. Non-breeding adults have white throats. Common Murre without white gape and with streaking on flanks.  Razorbill more stocky, with stouter bill with white ring at the tip.

Personal Notes: Also seen at the Latrabjarg cliffs in Iceland.

Common Murre

Scientific Name: Uria aalge

Range / Habitat: Exclusively marine, breeding along sea coasts on rocky cliffs and offshore islands throughout the subarctics. In winter, generally pelagic in the same waters.

Field Notes: Medium-sized waterbird with black to dark-brown head, neck and back. White underparts with some dark streaking on the flanks. Bridled or ringed morph, restricted to the Atlantic, has white eye-ring and post-ocular stripe. Non-breeding adults have white on face and throat. Thick-billed Murre has a white line on the gape, is blacker on the back, and lacks streaked flanks. Razorbill more stocky, with stouter bill lined in white.

Personal Notes: Seen huddled in large clusters against the wind on the Latrabjarg cliffs in western Iceland.

Glaucous Gull

Scientific Name: Larus hyperboreus

Range / Habitat: Breeds in coastal areas of the circumpolar Arctic. Winters generally in costal areas slightly further south.

Field Notes: Large white gull with light grey mantle. Wingtips white, in contrast to most other grey-maltled gulls its size. Iceland Gull more dainty. Glaucous-winged Gull with grey or dusky wingtips in all plumages.

Personal Notes: Above photo from Isafjordur, Iceland.

Black-tailed Godwit

Scientific Name: Limosa limosa

Range / Habitat: Breeds in wet grassland throughout Europe and parts of Russia. Fully migratory. Winters in sheltered estuaries and inland wetlands in parts of southern Europe, northern Africa, Asia and Australia.

Field Notes: Large, leggy shorebird with long, straight bill, orange at base and dark at tip. Breeding plumage with rufous head, neck and breast, otherwise mottled brown. Tail with with black tip. Winter plumage is uniform grey-brown above and lighter below.

Personal Notes: Striking bird seen in the marshy grasslands throughout Iceland in summer.

Stilt Sandpiper

Scientific Name: Micropalama himantopus

Range / Habitat: Breeds in sedge tundra near water in subarctic North America. Winters in a variety of water habitats in South America and part of Mexico and Central America.

Field Notes: Medium-sized shorebird, heavily barred in breeding plumage as above. Long, greenish legs, long neck. Long bill, drooped at the tip. Rufous patch to cheek. When seen among other sandpipers, tips tail high in the air.

Personal Notes: A record first at Deseret Ranch in Utah where seen in migration with Bill and Billy Fenimore.

Solitary Sandpiper

Scientific Name: Tringa solitaria

Range / Habitat: Breeds in taiga throughout Canada and Alaska. In migration and winter found along freshwater, more commonly in wooded areas. Winters in southern Mexico, including the Yucatan, Central American, Cuba and other Caribbean islands, and throughout northern South America.

Field Notes: Medium-sized shorebird with proportionate legs and bill. Brown upperparts, densely speckled white. White underparts and white eyering. Similarly sized non-breeding Spotted Sandpiper without speckling on back and with white eyestripe. Lesser Yellowlegs with prominent yellow legs and more mottling on back.

Personal Notes: Seen in migration at Minnesota NWR in May, 2014.

Marbled Godwit

Scientific Name: Limosa fedoa

Range / Habitat: Breeds in the northern prairies of the US and Canada and winters along the coasts of the US and Mexico.

Field Notes: A large shorebird with a long, upturned bill. Unmistakable in summer range.

Personal Notes:  Several seen (and heard calling) in the Ft. Pierre National Grasslands of South Dakota.

Least Sandpiper

Scientific Name: Calidris minutilla

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Breed in wet tundra and interrupted boreal forest across much of northern Canada and Alaska. In winter found along muddy shores and estuaries of the southern US, Mexico, and northern South America. They are not common on ocean beaches.

Field Notes: Smallest of the "peeps," not much bigger than a sparrow. They have a brown back and head with white eyestripe. White underneath with subtle neck striping. Black bill droops slightly. Distinctive yellow-green legs and a high-pitched "creep" call. Semipalmated Sandpipers and Western Sandpipers are slightly larger with stouter bills and black legs instead of the Least Sandpiper’s yellowish legs.

Personal Notes: A common sight, but hard to photograph, on the Salton Sea in California. Shown above with a Dunlin in the middle of the photo.

Black-winged Stilt

Scientific Name: Himantopus himantopus

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status.

Range / Habitat: Western Europe and Mediterranean region to Central Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and Madagascar, South and Southeast Asia.

Field Notes: Wader with long pink leg and a long thin black bill. Blackish above and white below, with a white head and neck with a varying amount of black.

Personal Notes: Seen at Donana National Park, Spain. Per HBW, Black-neck Stilt subsumed under this species name. 

Northern Lapwing

Scientific Name: Vanellus vanellus

Population Estimate: 4.2M - 10M

Range / Habitat: Breeds through temperate Eurasia on cultivated land. It is highly migratory over most of its extensive range, wintering further south as far as north Africa, northern India, Pakistan, and parts of China. 

Field Notes: Unmistakable in range. Typical lapwing habitus, iridescent blue and grey above, white below, black head plume

Personal Notes: Seen at Donana National Park, Spain. This is THE BEST PICTURE EVER!

Kentish Plover

Scientific Name: Charadrius alexandrinus

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Breeds on sandy coasts and brackish inland lakes, and is uncommon on fresh water. Breeds widely across southern Europe and Asia. Winters in Africa and southeast Asia.

Field Notes: Smaller, paler, longer-legged and thinner-billed than Ringed Plover or Semipalmated Plover. Its breast band is never complete, and usually just appears as dark lateral patches on the sides of the breast. Upperparts are greyish brown and the underparts white in all plumages. The breast markings are black in summer adults, otherwise brown. Breeding males of some races have a black forehead bar and a black mask through the eye. The legs are black.

Personal Notes: Seen at Donana National Park, Spain. Some sources consider this conspecific with Snowy Plover.

Little Ringed Plover

Scientific Name: Charadrius dubius

Population Estimate: 280K - 530K

Range / Habitat: Migratory birds who breed on open gravel areas near freshwater throughout Europe and western Asia. They winter in Africa and southeast Asia.

Field Notes: Small plover with grey-brown back and wings, a white belly, and a white breast with one black neckband. They have a brown cap, a white forehead, a black mask around the eyes with white above and a short dark bill. In contrast to the larger Ringed Plover, Little Ringed Plover has flesh-colored legs and a distinct yellow eye-ring.

Personal Notes: Seen at Donana National Park, Spain.

Curlew Sandpiper

Scientific Name: Calidris ferruginea

Population Estimate: 1.8M - 1.9M

Range / Habitat: Breeds in the tundra of Siberia. Migrates to Africa, Australasia or India.

Field Notes: Medium-sized waders, breeding adult has patterned dark grey upperparts and brick-red underparts. Winter bird bird is pale grey above and white below, and shows an obvious white supercilium. Legs brown-grey. Similar to Dunlin but with longer down-curved bill, longer neck and legs and a white rump.

Personal Notes: Seen at Donana National Park, Spain.

Slender-billed Gull

Scientific Name: Chroicocephalus genei

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Breeding range around the Mediterranean and the north of the western Indian Ocean on islands and coastal lagoons. Wintering further south to north Africa and India.

Field Notes: Medium-sized non-hooded gull with light grey mantle. Neck and bill with slender, elegant appearance. Legs and bill are dark red, appearing black. summer, the breast has a pink colouration.

Personal Notes:

Red-capped Plover

Scientific Name: Charadrius ruficapillus

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Marine intertidal areas throughout Australia, including Tasmania, parts of Indonesia, Papua New Guinea.

Field Notes: Small plover with rufous cap, extending down back of neck, and around to an incomplete breast band. White forehead. Juvenile and non-breeding forms with rufous cap grey-brown instead. Kentish Plover similar but non-overlapping.

Personal Notes: A lucky find at Mallacoota Beach, when we were really just looking for the path to the nearby Croajingolong National Park in Victoria, Australia.

Pied Oystercatcher

Scientific Name: Haematopus longirostris

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Coastal estuaries and mudflats around the entire coast of Australia, including Tasmania, parts of Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea.

Field Notes: Medium-sized wader with black head, neck, bib, back and tail. White breast and underparts, extending up to shoulder. Bright orange bill and eye. Unmistakable in range.

Personal Notes: Photographed at Ben Boyd NP.

Silver Gull

Scientific Name: Chroicocephalus novaehollandiae

Population Estimate: 100K - 1M

Range / Habitat: Found on costal and inland waterways throughout Australia and Tasmania.

Field Notes: Medium-sized white-headed gull with light grey mantle. Adults with striking red bill, eye ring and feet as in top photo. Juveniles with dusky bill and legs as in bottom photo. Similar in appearance to Red-billed Gull in New Zealand, with which some sources consider it conspecific. 

Personal Notes: Seen at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Melbourne, Australia.