From Sandpipers to Terns: 31 Birds You Might See On The Beach 

From Sandpipers to Terns: 31 Birds You Might See On The Beach is your essential guide to the diverse bird species that grace our sandy stretches during the warmer months. Whether you’re a seasoned birder or a casual beachgoer, this guide will help you identify everything from the swift-flying Least Tern to the methodically foraging Long-billed Curlew. 

Packed with identification tips, habitat preferences, and interesting facts, this guide ensures that your next trip to the beach is both educational and exciting. Keep your binoculars handy and prepare to delve into the vibrant world of beach birds this summer!

Black-bellied Plover

These medium-sized beach birds are characterized by their round bodies and short tails. During the breeding season, you’ll recognize them for their dramatic black-and-white coloring—black-bellied Plovers frequent sand and mud flats along the California coast.

How to Identify

• Breeding Plumage: Distinct black and white coloring during the breeding season.
• Non-breeding Plumage: More subdued, grayish-brown upper parts and white underparts.
• Habitat: Prefers sand and mud flats, often seen along the coast.

Western Snowy Plovers – Cute Beach Birds

The Western Snowy Plover is a small shorebird with a pale brown back and white underparts. It often blends seamlessly into the sandy beaches it calls home. These birds are of significant conservation interest because their habitat preferences overlap with popular recreational beach areas.

How to Identify

• Size and Color: Small and compact with pale brown upperparts and white underparts, making them blend into the sandy background.
• Nesting Behavior: Look for shallow scrapes in the sand, which serve as nests, often marked by bits of shell or debris.
• Habitat: Prefers sandy, saline environments such as beaches, alkali flats, and salt ponds, especially areas with little vegetation.

Brown Pelicans

The California Brown Pelican, an icon among coastal species, is easily spotted by its large size, long bill, and distinctive throat pouch. You’ll commonly see these birds diving for fish, a testament to their resilience after having been on the threatened species list due to pesticide exposure.

How to Identify

• Physical Traits: Large body, long bill with a large throat pouch, and distinctive flying pattern.
• Behavior: Known for spectacular diving from heights to catch fish.
• Habitat: Common along coasts and in bays, especially near fishing areas or piers.

Long-billed Curlew – Unique Beach Birds

You might spot the Long-billed Curlew probing sand and mud for invertebrates with its notably long, curved bill. This bird’s sizable wingspan is also a sight as it takes flight from the coastal wetlands.

How to Identify

• Bill: Very long and distinctly curved downwards. (sickle-shaped)
• Size and Color: One of the larger shorebirds with brownish cinnamon coloring.
• Habitat: Favors coastal wetlands, mudflats, and beaches. But also breeds on plains and prairies.

Great Blue Heron

Standing tall on the shoreline, the Great Blue Heron is a majestic sight with its blue-gray plumage and poised hunting stance. Look for them in salt and freshwater habitats as they hunt for fish and amphibians. They are often mistaken for the sandhill crane, but the Heron flies with its neck folded.

How to Identify

• Color: Blue-gray body with a broad black stripe over the eye.
• Stance: Often standing still, waiting to spearfish with its long bill.
• Habitat: Frequents both freshwater and saltwater environments, often near the shore.

Piping Plover

This small and pale bird is often seen scurrying along sandy beaches, where it blends into its surroundings. Despite their cuteness, they are threatened in many areas due to habitat loss.

How to Identify

• Bill: Short and stout, ideal for picking up small invertebrates.
• Plumage: Pale sandy color with white underparts, making them hard to spot on beaches.
• Habitat: Sandy beaches with little vegetation, often nesting in small depressions.

Least Tern

The smallest of American terns, distinguished by its high-pitched calls and agile flight, often hovering before diving for fish.

How to Identify

• Bill: Sharp and yellow, suitable for catching small fish.
• Plumage: White with a black cap and a gray back during the breeding season.
• Habitat: Sandy beaches and estuaries, often nesting on the bare ground close to the water’s edge.

Roseate Tern

Notable for its pale pink breast during breeding and its elegant, buoyant flight, this tern is less common and highly social during the breeding season.

How to Identify

• Bill: Long, sharp, and black, contrasting with its pale body.
• Plumage: Mostly white with a pale pink blush during the breeding season, and a black cap.
• Habitat: Coastal islands and beaches, often found in colonies with other tern species.

Semipalmated Sandpiper

A small, stout shorebird that can be seen feeding vigorously along mudflats, identifiable by its short bill and fluttery flight.

How to Identify

• Bill: Short and blunt, adapted for probing soft mud for food.
• Plumage: Gray-brown in breeding season, transitioning to a more uniform gray in winter.
• Habitat: Mudflats, sandy beaches, and estuaries along the coast.

Laughing Gull

Known for its distinctive laugh-like call, this gull sports a black head in the summer and enjoys a wide range of coastal habitats.

How to Identify

• Bill: Reddish-black, medium length, and slightly hooked.
• Plumage: Black head (in summer), white underparts, and gray back.
• Habitat: Coastal beaches, marshes, and nearshore waters, often seen scavenging.

Royal Tern

With its large size and vivid orange bill, the Royal Tern is a standout on many East Coast beaches, diving for fish with precision.

How to Identify

• Bill: Bright orange, strong, and pointed, perfect for catching fish.
• Plumage: Sleek white and gray with a sharp black cap during breeding.
• Habitat: Open sandy beaches and estuaries, often nesting in large, noisy colonies.

Oystercatcher

This striking bird uses its bright bill to pry open shellfish, a vivid sight against the rocky coastlines it prefers. The American Oystercatcher is unmistakable with its all-black plumage and bright reddish-orange bill. Look for them prying open mollusks on rocky shores. You’ll often see them in pairs or small groups along the west coast.

How to Identify

• Bill: Long, strong, and bright red-orange, specialized for handling shellfish.
• Plumage: Bold black and white, with a striking appearance.
• Habitat: Rocky shores and islands, where it forages along the waterline.

Ruddy Turnstone

Aptly named for its habit of flipping over stones to find food, this bird is a master of uncovering hidden seaside snacks.

How to Identify

• Bill: Short and pointed, adept at flipping stones and debris.
• Plumage: Mottled brown, black, and white, blending well with rocky beaches.
• Habitat: Rocky and sandy beaches, often seen turning over stones and debris for food.

Herring Gull

A large and ubiquitous gull, known for its adaptability and the familiar ‘laugh’ of the coastlines.

How to Identify

• Bill: Strong, yellow with a red spot, used for a variety of feeding techniques.
• Plumage: White and gray with black wingtips featuring white spots.
• Habitat: Widely varied, from beaches to landfills, near water.

Brant Goose

Smaller than most geese, with a compact body and specialized grazing habits, often seen in flocks nibbling on coastal grasses.

How to Identify

• Bill: Short and black, suitable for grazing on short grasses.
• Plumage: Dark brown body with a lighter, grayish belly and a distinctive white neck patch.
• Habitat: Coastal and estuarine areas, often in large flocks grazing on grassy fields near water.

Red Knot

Famous for its long-distance migrations, this robust sandpiper shows a reddish-brown face and underparts during breeding.

How to Identify

• Bill: Medium length, straight, and robust, suited for probing sand and mud.
• Plumage: Bright rust-colored in breeding season; dull grayish in non-breeding.
• Habitat: Sandy beaches and mudflats, critical stopover points during migration.

Common Loon

With its haunting calls and striking black and white plumage in the breeding season, the Common Loon is mesmerizing around quiet bays and coastal waters. To spot these divers, look for them riding the ocean swells.

How to Identify

• Plumage: Striking black and white in the breeding season; more subdued in winter.
• Calls: Notable for their haunting and variable calls.
• Behavior: Excellent divers, often disappearing below the surface to catch fish. Their number one food is fish!

Black-necked Stilts

These shorebirds stand out with their striking black-and-white feathers and impossibly long, red legs. Black-necked Stilts frequent salt ponds and shallow lagoons, where they pick and probe for aquatic prey. They tend to winter along the Pacific coast in northern California, so they are on our beach birds of California list!

How to Identify

• Legs: Bright red and disproportionately long compared to the body.
• Coloring: Black upper body and head with white underparts.
• Habitat: They prefer shallow water like salt marshes and lagoons.

Storm Petrels

Tiny but tenacious, Storm Petrels dance across the water’s surface on their relatively long wings. There are 21 species of storm petrels, but not all of them grace the shores of California! One of the popular California beach birds is the Ashy storm petrel. These seabirds spend most of their lives over open water, coming to land only for breeding on islands and rocky coasts.

How to Identify

• Size: Small with long wings for their body size.
• Behavior: Often seen “walking” on water as they feed.
• Habitat: Open ocean, coming ashore only to breed on islands and coastal areas.

Red-necked Phalarope

Spotting a Red-necked Phalarope spinning in circles on the water is delightful. This unique behavior stirs up food from the seabed. They migrate through California; you might see them in estuaries and along the coast. 

How to Identify

• Behavior: Spins in circles on the water to bring up prey.
• Plumage: Notable for their striped black and white back and red neck during breeding season.
• Habitat: Coastal estuaries and open ocean waters. They spend all of their non-breeding life out at sea!

Double-crested Cormorant

Equally at home in the water and the air, Double-crested Cormorants are often spotted drying their wings on rocky outcrops. Their breeding colonies are usually found on offshore islands, a critical habitat for many bird species.

How to Identify

• Appearance: Dark waterbirds with a small head, orange throat pouch, and long neck.
• Behavior: Frequently seen with wings outstretched to dry after diving.
• Habitat: Coastal areas, especially near rocky islands where they breed.

American Avocet

With their long, upturned bills and elegant legs, Graceful American Avocets wade through shallow waters in search of crustaceans and insects. Watch their heads and necks turn a striking rusty color during the breeding season. They feed like spoonbills by sweeping their bills from side to side along the water surface. 

How to Identify

• Bill: Long and slender, curving upwards.
• Color: White and black body with a variable head color, from white to rusty.
• Habitat: Shallow waters of wetlands and coastal lagoons.

Long-billed Dowitcher

You’ll find these shorebirds with long, straight bills probing mudflats for food. The Long-billed Dowitcher’s methodic foraging is common during migration along California’s coast.

How to Identify

• Bill: Very long and straight, ideal for probing in mud.
• Plumage: Brownish above with barred underparts.
• Habitat: Mudflats and shallow waters along the coast, especially during migration.

Western Sandpiper

Small but numerous, the Western Sandpiper is a key player in the migratory spectacle along the Pacific coast. It is identifiable by its short legs and long, drooping bill. The western sandpiper will usually feed in deeper waters than the smaller sandpipers.

How to Identify

• Bill: Long and slightly drooping at the tip.
• Size: Among the smaller shorebirds, with brownish-gray plumage.
• Habitat: Favors mudflats and sandy beaches during migration.

Heermann’s Gull

With its slate-gray body, red bill with a black tip, and white head, Heermann’s Gull stands out among the gulls along the California coastline. It often follows Brown Pelicans to scavenge fish.

How to Identify

• Color: Unique among gulls for its dark gray body and red bill.
• Behavior: Often seen following larger birds to scavenge leftovers.
• Habitat: Coastal environments, especially near pelican feeding areas.

Marbled Godwit

This crow-sized bird, the marbled Godwit, has a long, slightly upturned bill. Its marbled brown plumage makes it a distinctive sight as it forages through wet sands and mudflats.

How to Identify

• Bill: Long and slightly upturned, perfect for probing the sand.
• Plumage: Warm brown with a marbled appearance.
• Habitat: Sandy beaches and mudflats, especially tide pools during low tide.

Willet

The Willet is easily recognizable by its loud, piercing calls and the striking white and black pattern displayed during flight. It is a medium-sized shorebird that adapts well to various coastal habitats. It has grey legs and a thicker bill, which help distinguish it from the Greater Yellowlegs bird. 

How to Identify

• Calls: Loud and distinctive, you’ll often hear them before you see the bird.
• Flight Pattern: Shows a striking black and white pattern on wings.
• Habitat: From sandy beaches to salt marshes, a versatile habitat range.

Sanderling

Sanderlings are energetic little birds (starling-sized) that chase waves on sandy beaches. They are recognizable by their pale plumage and frantic feeding behavior as they search for marine invertebrates.

How to Identify

• Behavior: Runs along the beach, following the waves in and out.
• Color: Ashen, almost white in non-breeding plumage.
• Habitat: Prefers open sandy beaches, often seen in small flocks.

Caspian Tern

You can identify the largest of the terns, the Caspian Tern, by their large size, bright red bill, and deep, raucous calls as it dives for fish from high above the water.

How to Identify

• Bill: Bright red and significant, distinctive among terns.
• Size: The largest tern with a robust build.
• Habitat: Coastal waters, estuaries, and large inland lakes.

Surf Scoter

The Surf Scoter, a sea duck, is notable for its colorful bill and preference for coastal waters, where it dives for mollusks and crustaceans, a winter visitor to California’s coast. Hunters dislike eating these birds because they consume very little plant material.

How to Identify

• Bill: Large, brightly colored, and distinctive. While the black scoter is one of the black birds with yellow bills, surf scoters have orange and white bills.
• Plumage: Mostly black with white patches on the head.
• Habitat: Coastal waters, often seen in large flocks offshore.

These 30 species represent just a fraction of the avian diversity found along California’s coastline. Armed with this guide, you’re well-prepared to explore the state’s beaches and the remarkable birds that inhabit them. Bring your binoculars and respect wildlife regulations to ensure these birds thrive for generations.