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| Waders | ||||||||
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| Dunlin Calidris alpina A calidrid wader | ||||||||
| Scientific classification | ||||||||
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| Families | ||||||||
| Charadridae Jacanidae Rostratulidae Ibidorhynchidae Recurvirostridae Haematopodidae Scolopacidae Dromadidae Burhinidae Glareolidae Thinocoridae |
Waders, called Shorebirds in North America (where "wader" is used to refer to long-legged wading birds such as storks and herons), are members of the order Charadriiformes, excluding the more marine web-footed seabird groups. The latter are the skuas (Stercoraracidae), gulls (Laridae), terns (Sternidae), skimmers (Rhynchopidae), sheathbill (Chionididae) and auks (Alcidae).
This leaves about 210 species, most of which are associated with wetland or coastal environments. Many species of Arctic and temperate regions are strongly migratoryLong-distance land bird migration Many species of land birds migrate very long distances, the most common pattern being for birds to breed in the temperate or arctic northern hemisphere and winter in warmer regions, often in the tropics or the southern he, but tropical birds are often resident, or move only in response to rainfall patterns. Some of the Arctic species, such Little StintLittle Stint Adult in late summer : Animalia : Chordata : Aves : Charadriiformes : Scolopacidae : Calidris minuta Binomial name ''Calidris minuta Leisler, 1812) The Little Stint Calidris minuta is a very small wader. It breeds in arctic Europe and Asia, a are amongst the longest distance migrants, wintering in the southern hemisphere
The majority of species eat small invertebrateInvertebrate is a term coined by Chevalier de Lamarck to describe any animal without a backbone or vertebra, like insects, squids and worms. He divided them into two groups, the Insecta and the Vermes. However, the invertebrates are not a coherent group os picked out of the mud or soil. Different lengths of bills enable different species to feed in the same habitat, particularly on the coast, without direct competition for food.
Some larger species, particularly those adapted to drier habitats will take larger prey including insectSubclass Apterygota Symphypleona globular springtails Subclass Archaeognatha (jumping bristletails) Subclass Dicondylia Monura extinct Thysanura (common bristletails) Subclass Pterygota Palaeodictyoptera extinct Ephemeroptera (mayflies) Odonata ( dragonfls and small reptiles. The pratincoles are aerial insect eaters, hunting like swallows.
Many of the smaller species found in coastal habitats, particularly but not exclusively the calidrids, are often named as "Sandpipers", but this term does not have a strict meaning, since the Upland Sandpiper is a grassland species.
The following shows the groups of Charadriiform birds normally classed as waders.
The large family Scolopacidae is often further subdivided into groups of similar birds. These groups do not necessarily consist of a single genus. The approximate number of species is in brackets. The groups are:
In the Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy, waders and many other groups are subsumed into a greatly enlarged order Ciconiiformes.
See also list of birds