Birds of the Alameda Shoreline
This guide includes over 50 bird species found along the beaches of Alameda. Look through the guide to see multiple photos of each species as well as range maps and information about habitats and feeding habits.
Sanderling
The Sanderling (Calidris alba, syn. Crocethia alba or Erolia alba) is a small wader. It is a circumpolar Arctic breeder, and is a long-distance migrant, wintering south to South America, South Europe, Africa, and Australia. It is highly gregarious in winter, sometimes forming large flocks on coastal mudflats or sandy beaches.
Dunlin
The Dunlin (Calidris alpina) is a small wader, sometimes separated with the other "stints" in Erolia. It is a circumpolar breeder in Arctic or subarctic regions.
Willet
The Willet (Tringa semipalmata), formerly in the monotypic genus Catoptrophorus as Catoptrophorus semipalmatus, is a large shorebird in the sandpiper family.
Long-billed Curlew
The Long-billed Curlew (Numenius americanus) is a large North American shorebird of the family Scolopacidae. This species was also called "sicklebird" and the "candlestick bird". The species is native to central and western North America. In the winter, the species migrates southwards, as well as towards the coastline.
Whimbrel
The Whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus) is a wader in the large family Scolopacidae. It is one of the most widespread of the curlews, breeding across much of subarctic North America, Europe and Asia as far south as Scotland.
black turnstone
The Black Turnstone (Arenaria melanocephala) is a species of small wading bird. It is now classified in the sandpiper family Scolopacidae but was formerly sometimes placed in the plover family Charadriidae. It is native to the west coast of North America and breeds only in Alaska.
Caspian Tern
The Caspian Tern (Hydroprogne caspia, formerly Sterna caspia;syn. Hydroprogne tschegrava, Helopus caspius) is a species of tern, with a subcosmopolitan but scattered distribution. Despite its extensive range, it is monotypic of its genus, and has no subspecies accepted either. In New Zealand it is also known by the Maori name Taranui.
California Gull
The California Gull (Larus californicus) is a medium-sized gull, smaller on average than the Herring Gull but larger on average than the Ring-billed Gull, though may overlap in size greatly with both.
Common Gull
The Common Gull (European and Asian subspecies; see below) or Mew Gull (North American subspecies) Larus canus is a medium-sized gull which breeds in northern Asia, northern Europe and northwestern North America. It migrates further south in winter. Its name does not indicate that it is an abundant species, but that during the winter it feeds on common land, short ...more ↓
glaucous-winged gull
The Glaucous-winged Gull (Larus glaucescens) is a large, white-headed gull residing from the western coast of Alaska to the coast of Washington. It also breeds on the northwest coast of Alaska, in the summertime. During non-breeding seasons they can be found along the coast of California. It is a close relative of the Western Gull and frequently hybridizes with it, resulting in ...more ↓
Western Gull
The Western Gull (Larus occidentalis) is a large white-headed gull that lives on the western coast of North America.
Forster's Tern
The Forster's Tern (Sterna forsteri) is a member of the tern family Sternidae. It breeds inland in North America and winters south to the Caribbean and northern South America.
Common Tern
The Common Tern (Sterna hirundo) is a seabird of the tern family Sternidae. This bird has a circumpolar distribution, its four subspecies breeding in temperate and subarctic regions of Europe, Asia and North America. It is strongly migratory, wintering in coastal tropical and subtropical regions. Breeding adults have light grey upperparts, white to very light grey underparts, a ...more ↓
Grey Plover
The Grey Plover (Pluvialis squatarola), known as the Black-bellied Plover in North America, is a medium-sized plover breeding in arctic regions. It is a long-distance migrant, with a nearly worldwide coastal distribution when not breeding.
American Black Oystercatcher
The Black Oystercatcher (Haematopus bachmani) is a conspicuous black bird found on the shoreline of western North America. It ranges from the Aleutian Islands of Alaska to the coast of the Baja California peninsula.
iNaturalist observation for the Alameda Shoreline
Black-necked Stilt
The Black-necked Stilt (Himantopus mexicanus) is a locally abundant shorebird of American wetlands and coastlines. It is found from the coastal areas of California through much of the interior western United States and along the Gulf of Mexico as far east as Florida, then south through Central America and the Caribbean to northwest Brazil southwest Peru,east Ecuador and the ...more ↓
American Avocet
The American Avocet (Recurvirostra americana) is a large wader in the avocet and stilt family, Recurvirostridae.
