What Are Waterbirds?

The term waterbird refers to bird species dependent on aquatic habitats to complete portions of their life cycles.

Waterbirds can be further characterized by other non-technical terms relating to where they typically forage:
These terms are not exclusive.

	seabirds -- primarily feeding in open ocean
	coastal waterbirds -- primarily utilizing the interface between land and both salt and fresh water
	wading birds -- principally feeding by wading in fresh or brackish waters
	marshbirds -- often secretive, feeding in primarily fresh waters
Other aquatic birds are known by these terms:
	shorebirds-- typically found along shorelines of oceans, rivers, and lakes, commonly chracterized by long bills, legs, and toes.
	waterfowl-- ducks, geese and swans, many of which are traditionally harvested.

In North America, separate initiatives exist for waterbirds, shorebirds, and waterfowl. Thus, the North American Waterbird Conservation Plan focusses on seabirds, coastal waterbirds, wading birds, and marshbirds (View Species List). You can find out more about the various bird initiatives in North America at the North American Bird Conservation Initiative (NABCI) website.

It should be noted, that in Central America and the Caribbean, conservationists tend to address all aquatic birds together, and the term "waterbirds" may be used to refer to all aquatic species.