I don’t know how popular it is globally, but I love referring to shorebirds as “shorbs”. It is a consequence of how round they are, which accentuates their preexisting cuteness. They make good candidates for plush toys, they’re already the correct shape – and from a marketing perspective, one can make innumerable variations and editions of these plush toys: breeding, non-breeding, adult, juvenile, and so on. Each one marginally different from the next, but different nonetheless. Whoever takes this idea and acts upon it, you’re welcome, I’m already your biggest customer.
I’ve proselytised many people over the years turning them onto the spectacle of shorebird migration. In the hope that at the end of August each year more people feel the palpable excitement which bubbles over at the first “tiew tiew tiew” of freshly arrived yellowlegs. In my home country of T&T, however, I’ve noticed a growing number of photographers as opposed to birders and people who genuinely appreciate birds. Therefore there is a great infatuation with species whose images perform well on social media. Hummingbirds and birds of prey are particularly fawned over; our beloved shorbs are infrequently attended to within these islands save for a smattering of ardent birders scouring fields and mudflats for mud-coloured birds.
In this vein I have decided to pay homage to arguably my favourite family of birds with this post, showcasing a selection of shorebirds I photographed across both Trinidad and Tobago this migration season. I present them in (roughly) taxonomic order.
Black-bellied Plover, with a Hudsonian Whimbrel attachment.
American Golden-Plover
Hudsonian Whimbrel gets its own spotlight along with its freshly earned distinct species status.
This Short-billed Dowitcher seems to be partially leucistic or otherwise pale with very ragged feathers.
Wilson’s Snipe
Willet
Greater Yellowlegs
Sanderling
White-rumped Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Pectoral Sandpiper
Semipalmated Sandpiper
For waders (English) or wadvogels (Dutch) the abbreviation would be “wads”?
So I can understand non-birders failing to appreciate peeps, Willets, Yellowlegs and Plovers. But Curlews and Snipes? Come on, they rock!
The Insta-crowd can chase the hummingbirds and leave me the mud. Beauty is wasted on the shallow.
Lovely post! You lost me a bit on the plush toys manufacturing. But, I still get it. I love shorebirds, too; oops I mean shorbs, because I agree this is a good nickname. In the U.S. we call the sandpipers “peeps” presumably because of the little sounds they make. But “shorbs” is a good all-encompassing name for the whole bunch. I love all of your photos, but the Pectoral Sandpiper is wonderful; perhaps surprisingly I also like your Sanderling photo, birds tucked into the rocks. And, I also learned something new. Hudsonian Whimbrel? Is this for real? A new bird? If so I am falling behind on my research.
The Hudsonian (or what was American) Whimbrel used to be regarded as a race of the widespread Eurasian Whimbrel, but on the latest AviList is now regarded as a full species. The easiest way to tell the two part is the absence of a white rump on the Hudsonian. The calls of the two seem to be virtually identical. I remember once seeing a Eurasian Whimbrel on Tobago, but this was when there was thought to be only the single species.
Some lovely photographs here: I particularly like the Pectoral Sandpiper (a North American bird that regularly appears in the British Isles, though it is a rarity).
Peter, have you ever considered being a birding preacher? “Beauty is wasted on the shallow” – so true, except for the birds feeding on biofilm.
Snipes may be one of the most charismatic shorbs of all!
Yes, Cathy – as far as I understand Whimbrel (according to eBird at least) has been split into Hudsonian and Eurasian. Not sure if all bodies are in agreement, but here’s the text from the Avilist spreadsheet on my computer: Taxon hudsonicus (polytypic, including rufiventris) is treated as a species separate from Numenius phaeopus based on morphology and deep genomic DNA divergence (McLaughlin et al. 2020; Tan et al. 2023). However, vocalizations seem similar, and a formal bioacoustic analysis is lacking.
Many thanks, David. I’ve never seen Eurasian Whimbrel but you’re right in that the presence/absence of the white rump is the most reliable delineation between the two. Apparently the Hudsonian Whimbrels are also much darker overall.
The use of “wads” is entirely dependent upon how the “a” is pronounced. It can sound a bit unflattering, I think.
In German, waders are called Limikolen, nickname Limis – I love identifying them.
I love this, Rolf, I’ll see how best I can use “Limis” in a future conversation to sound smart.
I think a person could appreciate any bird if seen through your photographs, Faraaz!