Species Showcase • Spotted sandpiper Spotted sandpipers know how to shake their tail feathers. These robin-sized shorebirds constantly bob the back halves of their bodies up and down while walking, feeding and standing still. Even chicks begin bouncing almost as soon as they hatch. Scientists aren’t sure what function the seesawing serves. Mating males and females assume different roles than many other birds. Females defend territories and sometimes mate with multiple males, laying a clutch of eggs for each one. Males tend to the nest, incubate the eggs, and are usually smaller and less aggressive. Research has found the pituitary glands of males produce extra prolactin, a hormone that promotes parental care.
Gulls & Terns family laridae
Shoreline | Wetland
Large | Extra Large
Forest preserve hotspots hotspots •
Fort Sheridan (Lake Forest)
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Independence Grove (Libertyville)
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Openlands Lakeshore Preserve (Lake Forest)
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Spring Bluff (Winthrop Harbor) American herring gull
Glaucous-winged gull
Bonaparte’s gull
Great black-backed gull
Caspian tern
Iceland gull
Larus smithsonianus
Chroicocephalus philadelphia Hydroprogne caspia
Common tern
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Sterna hirundo
Forster’s tern Sterna forsteri
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Franklin’s gull
Leucophaeus pipixcan
Glaucous gull 14
Caspian tern
Larus hyperboreus
Larus glaucescens Larus marinus
Larus glaucoides
Laughing gull
Leucophaeus atricilla
Lesser black-backed gull Larus fuscus
Ring-billed gull
Larus delawarensis