By Courtney Collins
If you’ve been to a beach or local wetland, there’s no doubt you’ve seen shorebirds! This diverse group of birds, in the biological order Charadriiformes, can be found running, wading, and digging around for prey near and along the shorelines of waterbodies.1 Alberta is home to a few different shorebirds, so let’s chat about a few of the species you might be lucky enough to see nearby.
American Avocet
The American avocet, Recurvirostra americana, is a medium-sized white bird with a rusty orange-brown head, black wings with a white stripe, long blue/grey legs, and a long bill that curves upward.2 Their diet consists of beetles, midges, water fleas, and other aquatic invertebrates. Foraging strategies include wading in shallow, open water and using a distinctive scything motion with its bill, pecking into the water, or plunging (which includes submerging the head and neck underwater).3
Piping Plover
The piping plover, Charadrius melodus, is a small shorebird that is endangered across Canada, with fewer than 100 individuals recorded in Alberta as of spring 2024 (estimated count between 50-75 individuals).4,5 These birds can be seen flitting about on sandy beaches and lakes, often blending in with their surroundings.
Piping plovers have white bellies with grey or sand-coloured backs, a black neck ring, orange legs, and a short orange and black-tipped bill. This species uses a run-stop/check/tilt-run foraging strategy. They run toward water (on a beach, this would be water being pulled back out to the ocean), check the now-waterless sandy terrain for worms, crustaceans, water beetles, or snails, then run back toward dry sand as the water moves inward.6
Ruddy Turnstone
The ruddy turnstone, Arenaria interpres, has a distinctive white, black, and rusty orange-brown patterned colouration. Their bills are turned slightly upward and are short yet tough, perfect for overturning rocks, shells, and other coastline debris (the reason for ‘turnstone’ in their name) to find their preferred prey: larval and adult midges and flies. This species also eats spiders, beetles, bees, and small crustaceans during the non-breeding season.7
This bird can be found primarily on rocky shorelines, in relatively shallow water. This shorebird is usually only spotted in Alberta during its spring and fall migrations, when they travel from their northern tundra breeding grounds to the southern United States or South America for overwintering. 7, 8
Short-billed Dowitcher
The short-billed dowitcher, Limnodromus griseus, is a medium-sized shorebird with a speckled pale brown, dark brown, orange, and gold colouration. Their bill is long (despite their name) and straight, and is used for repeatedly probing into mud with a motion similar to the stitching action of a sewing machine. This species breeds in northern Alberta and can be found in bogs and small lakes. Preferring shallow water in saltwater or brackish ecosystems, short-billed dowitchers can be seen searching for their preferred prey, including marine worms, molluscs, crustaceans, and various insects.9
Spotted Sandpiper
The spotted sandpiper, Actitis macularius, is a medium-sized shorebird with a white belly speckled with grey/brown spots, a mottled brown/grey back, and a narrow, orange bill. This bird is one of the most common breeding shorebirds in North America and has a unique tail-bobbing motion that has been the source of many nicknames, including teeter-tail, tip-tail, or teeter-peep.10 The diet of these sandpipers includes mayflies, grasshoppers, worms, snails, and even small fish. This species forages by probing in sand, lunging or snapping at moving prey, and picking prey from plants.11
Shorebirds are a diverse and fascinating group of birds! If you have questions about shorebirds in Alberta or see a shorebird in need of help, please contact AIWC at [email protected] or refer to your nearest wildlife rescue.
References
- Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network. “What is a Shorebird?”. 2019. https://whsrn.org/about-shorebirds/
- Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute. “BiodiversityBrowser: American Avocet (Recurvirostra americana)”. 2023. https://new2021.abmi.ca/species/recurvirostra-americana
- Cornell Lab of Ornithology. “All About Birds: American Avocet“. Accessed July 2025. https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Avocet/overview
- Environment and Climate Change Canada. Recovery Strategy (Amended) and Action Plan for the Piping Plover melodus subspecies (Charadrius melodus melodus) in Canada. 2022. https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/species-risk-public-registry/recovery-strategies/piping-plover-2022.html
- David Bell. “Precarious piping plover population persists despite climate change extremes”. CBC News. May 29, 2024. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/piping-plover-alberta-climate-change-flood-drought-1.7218513
- Cornell Lab of Ornithology. “All About Birds:Piping Plover“. Cornell University. Accessed July 2025. https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Piping_Plover/overview
- Cornell Lab of Ornithology. “All About Birds: Ruddy Turnstone“. Cornell University. Accessed July 2025. https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Ruddy_Turnstone/overview
- Royal Alberta Museum. “Official List of the Birds of Alberta: Taxonomy, Ruddy Turnstone”. Accessed July 2025. https://royalalbertamuseum.ca/collections/life-sciences/ornithology/birds-list/taxonomy#LCHAR
- Cornell Lab of Ornithology. “All About Birds: Short-Billed Dowitcher“. Cornell University. Accessed July 2025. https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Short-billed_Dowitcher/overview
- Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute. “BiodiversityBrowser: Spotted Sandpiper (Actitus macularius)”. 2023. https://new2021.abmi.ca/species/actitis-macularius
- Cornell Lab of Ornithology. “All About Birds: Spotted Sandpiper”. Cornell University. Accessed July 2025. https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Spotted_Sandpiper/overview
