WadersWaders Index Bar-tailed Godwit Banded Lapwing Black-fronted Dotterel Black-tailed Godwit Glossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus) Hooded Plover Inland Dotterel Lesser Sand Plover Long-toed Stint Oriental Plover Pacific Golden Plover Pectoral Sandpiper Pied Stilt Red-kneed Dotterel Red-necked Avocet Red-necked Stint Ruff Sanderling Sharp-tailed Sandpiper Sooty Oystercatcher

Waders (also referred to as shorebirds or shore birds) are terms to describe birds that are found wading along shorelines and mudflats, being both coastal, inlet and inland environments, as well as wetlands, lakes, river, dams and sewerage ponds. These are birds that usually wade in the mud or sand, when foraging for food (such as insects or crustaceans).

Waders are commonly birds of the order Charadriiformes, that consist of two suborders, and 13 families. Shorebirds is another term used to describe many species that spend much of their time near water, with many being long-legged (being suitable for wading).

As well as ‘waders’, some of the species included under this term will be under other groupings such as Dotterels Lapwings Plovers.


  • Scientific classification
  • Kingdom: Animalia
  • Phylum: Chordata
  • Class: Aves
  • Clade: Gruimorphae
  • Order: Charadriiformes

Footnote & References

  1. AWSG — Australasian Wader Study Group, The Australasian Wader Studies Group (AWSG) was formed in 1981 as a special interest group of BirdLife Australia to coordinate and focus studies on waders, or shorebirds, in Australia and throughout their migration routes in the Asia Pacific, https://awsg.org.au/
  2. VWSG — Victorian Wader Study Group, The Victorian Wader Study Group (VWSG) began its activities in 1975. The VWSG’s primary objective is to conduct a long-term comprehensive study of waders and terns throughout Victoria. This is achieved primarily through capture and release of birds at key high tide roosts. The VWSG is a non-profit organisation and is made up of around 140 volunteers, https://vwsg.org.au/
  3. Stint Identification, by Melissa Hafting, 19 August 2017, Dare to Bird, https://daretobird.blogspot.com/2017/08/stint-identification.html
  4. Wader, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wader (last visited May 29, 2022)

WadersWaders Index Bar-tailed Godwit Banded Lapwing Black-fronted Dotterel Black-tailed Godwit Glossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus) Hooded Plover Inland Dotterel Lesser Sand Plover Long-toed Stint Oriental Plover Pacific Golden Plover Pectoral Sandpiper Pied Stilt Red-kneed Dotterel Red-necked Avocet Red-necked Stint Ruff Sanderling Sharp-tailed Sandpiper Sooty Oystercatcher

BirdsBird Index Apostlebird Australasian Figbird Australasian Gannet Australasian Grebe Australasian Robins Australasian Pipit Australasian Shoveler (Spatula rhynchotis) Australasian Wrens Australian Babblers Australian Brush-turkey (Alectura lathami) Australian Bustard Australian Chats Australian Magpie Australian Pelican Australian Pratincole (Stiltia isabella) Australian White Ibis Bassian Thrush Black-faced Woodswallow Black Swan Bowerbirds Brolga Brown Songlark Channel-billed Cuckoo Cinnamon Quail-thrush Cormorants Cuckooshrikes and Allies Dotterels Lapwings Plovers Doves & Pigeons Emu Fairy Martin Finches Freckled Duck Grey Fantail Grey Teal Honeyeaters Ibises Kingfishers Little Friarbird Little Grassbird Magpie-lark Masked Woodswallow Noisy Pitta Olive Whistler Paradise Riflebird Pardalotes Parrots Pheasant Coucal Pied Butcherbird Rainbow Bee-eater Raptors Rufous Fantail Redthroat Rufous Bristlebird Silver-crowned Friarbird Torresian Crow Waders Welcome Swallow (Hirundo neoxena) Whiskered Tern (Chlidonias hybrida) White-browed Woodswallow White Capped Noddy White-faced Heron White-necked Heron Willie Wagtail Yellow-throated Scrubwren