Shorebirds, Gulls, and Auks, and Their Relatives - Page 1

Few bird orders contain more species than the diverse order Charadriiformes. This order includes such groups as plovers, sandpipers, gulls, terns, and auks -- some of our most familiar coastal and waterside birds.

The family Alcidae (auks, murres, puffins, and their relatives) consists of highly specialized diving birds. They are compact in shape, with relatively small. thin wings. The wings propel them in flight with rapid, whirring wingbeats and also propel them through the water in their pursuit of fish, squid, and crustaceans. Birds of this family, often called alcids, live only in northern oceans. Penguins and diving-petrels, unrelated to the Alcidae, fill a similar ecological role in the southern oceans.

Gulls and terns are united in the family Laridae. Gulls are opportunistic and abundant coastal birds, scarce only in tropical regions. Gregarious by nature, they feed by scavenging and by exploiting abundant prey such as fish, insects, and -- on occasion -- bird eggs and nestlings. Terns resemble slender gulls. Most species capture prey such as small fish by plunge-diving or by picking prey from the surface of the water while the terns are in flight. Terns are widespread even on tropical coasts and seas.