shorebird

noun

shore·​bird ˈshȯr-ˌbərd 

: any of a suborder (Charadrii) of birds (such as a plover or sandpiper) that frequent the seashore

Examples of shorebird in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The first beer was the Piping Plover Pilsner, named after a migratory, sparrow-sized shorebird, that nests along the Great Lakes. —Frank Witsil, Detroit Free Press, 21 Aug. 2023

Read full article Cape Cod: The most unusual bird report last week, and arguably the rarest bird of 2023 to date, was a lesser sand-plover, a shorebird from Asia with several disjunct populations in Kazakhstan, northern India, and western China to coastal areas in eastern Russia. —BostonGlobe.com, 19 Aug. 2023

The Lake is also among the most important shorebird and waterfowl sites in North America, annually providing food and habitat for more than 10 million migratory birds. —Leia Larsen, The Salt Lake Tribune, 6 Sep. 2023

Then there is Wilson’s phalarope, an unusual shorebird that often lives inland, despite a predilection for salt water. —Emily Anthes, New York Times, 29 Aug. 2023

First, the children learned about why shorebirds are important to Utqiaġvik. —Alena Naiden, Anchorage Daily News, 28 July 2023

But the population of the shorebirds and of the crab eggs both remain well below the historic norms of some 90,000 birds and 50,000 to 100,000 eggs per square meter on the bay beaches during the 1980s and early ’90s. —Jon Hurdle, New York Times, 15 June 2023

Then came tens of thousands of waterfowl and shorebirds that feed on the brine flies. —Louis Sahagún, Los Angeles Times, 27 Apr. 2023

But one shorebird in particular made history this past week after it was tracked flying thousands of miles nonstop to the southern hemisphere, drawing international attention and potentially giving scientists new insight into the future of a declining population of shorebirds. —Emily Mesner, Anchorage Daily News, 30 Oct. 2022

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Word History

First Known Use

circa 1672, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

shorebird

noun

shore·​bird ˈshō(ə)r-ˌbərd 

ˈshȯ(ə)r-

: any of a group of birds (as a plover or sandpiper) that frequent the seashore