How Much Do You Know About Shorebirds? Take Our Quiz!

The birds that we call shorebirds include sandpipers, plovers, and other wading birds. In North America, many of these birds nest in the Arctic and travel thousands of miles to their wintering grounds, stopping on marshes and mudflats where many of us can see them in spring and fall. Shorebirds come in a variety of shapes and sizes, but some have confusingly similar plumages, presenting fun but tricky identification challenges. Even when we cannot put a name on every shorebird we see, it’s still a highlight of fall to go out and find a flock of shorebirds working the mud flats, thinking about the numerous obstacles these birds must overcome—and the incredible distances they must cover—as they rest and refuel at our local habitats. Are you a shorebird expert? Here’s a quiz covering some fun facts about this cool group of birds.