Sandpipers and Allies
Order: Charadriiformes. Family: Scolopacidae
The Scolopacidae are a large diverse family of small to medium sized shorebirds including the sandpipers, curlews, godwits, shanks, tattlers, woodcocks, snipes, dowitchers and phalaropes. The majority of species eat small invertebrates picked out of the mud or soil. Variation in length of legs and bills enable different species to feed in the same habitat, particularly on the coast, without direct competition for food. There are 89 species worldwide and 5 species which occur in Tonga.
- Bar-tailed Godwit Limosa lapponica
- Bristle-thighed Curlew Numenius tahitiensis
- Wandering Tattler Heterosceles incanus
- Ruddy Turnstone Arenaria interpres
- Sanderling Calidris alba
Read more about this topic: List Of Birds Of Tonga
Famous quotes containing the word allies:
“... liberal intellectuals ... tend to have a classical theory of politics, in which the state has a monopoly of power; hoping that those in positions of authority may prove to be enlightened men, wielding power justly, they are natural, if cautious, allies of the “establishment.””
—Susan Sontag (b. 1933)