At first, it was hard to believe what I was seeing one misty morning on Delaware’s oceanfront. A Royal Tern flying toward the clouds after snagging a fish from the inlet suddenly flipped its catch into the air like a coin toss and then snagged it again with a better grip and swallowed it down in a single gulp.
Only when I went through my photos later did I discover the full story. This snow-white bird not only pulled off its acrobatic maneuver in midair, it did so while twisting a full turn like an Olympic diver to pull it all off without losing its prey. The scene is captured step-by-step in one of the galleries below.
Nowhere else can you see the full extraordinary flight skills and captivating action of more bird species than along the wide-open spaces of the nation’s coastlines and waterways.
From wading birds such as herons, egrets and ibis, to shorebirds like plovers, avocets and oystercatchers, to the gulls, terns and kingfishers that patrol the waterfronts, coastal birds are among the easiest to spot and most rewarding to watch — and they’re at it almost any time of day. They also face a long list of pressures, hazards and threats that make them a slice of birdlife we should not just be watching but also watching over with care. Here’s a gallery of some of our favorite coastal birds:
This package is part of our annual series of the best posts from the past year. This originally ran on January 23 after a meandering trip following coastal birds up and down the Atlantic coast. Each Sunday, we’ll bring back one of the most popular posts of 2024, which will include stories on pelicans, spoonbills, woodpeckers, the Resplendent Quetzal and others. Thank you for reading Flying Lessons. We wish you the best as December winds down and a bird-rich year ahead.
We spent much of the fall and early winter meandering along the Atlantic seaboard in communion with these birds: from the tip of Delaware that opens into the Chesapeake Bay, along the rich grasslands of southeastern Georgia and finally down to Florida with longest coastline south of Alaska (stretching 1,350 miles from Jacksonville around to Pensacola.)
We offer this series of photo-rich posts as both an appreciation of these birds and a reminder of what they’re up against in a time of environmental disruption. The pressure is especially acute in a nation where 40 percent of the population lives along the coastlines, side-by-side with these communities of birds.
Some of the same allure that attracts people serves these birds: all kinds of water, plenty of food, an environment rich in variety. This means that people and birds are going to have to coexist to preserve the delicate ecological balance along the oceanfront, bay-front, marshes and rivers.
“The Ultimate Charmers”
Among the very best people to provide a perspective on coastal birds is the Smithsonian Institution’s Autumn-Lynn Harrison. She’s a research ecologist with the Smithsonian’s Migratory Bird Center and the force behind a ground-breaking project called the Shorebird Science and Conservation Collective that’s gathering data from all across the hemisphere.
While it’s hard to single out any one group of birds, the coastal species Harrison has studied around the world stand out in her view. “The birds themselves are the ultimate charmers,” says Harrison. “They have the ability to delight people. They’re such fun to watch — and so beautiful. And they have these amazing athletic ability to undertake these long migrations that connect all these different countries.”
She believes the appeal of these birds — along with the fact they’re among the most visible of bird families — helps their cause at a time when conservation is imperative to curb the dramatic reductions many are facing. “About half of these species have lost more than 50 percent of their populations,” she reminds us.
This post goes along with a companion piece that take you on a tour to some of the best birding spots along the Atlantic Coast. Finally, here’s a gallery of the acrobatic, fish-flipping Royal Tern we ran into along the Delaware coast.
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