These may be your least favorite birds to identify, but here's how to make it easier

Shorebird season is peaking in Maine, with about 30 shorebird species passing through each fall, but identifying them can be difficult because “shorebird” covers an entire family within the order Charadriiformes. The guidance suggests first eliminating species that are so rare in Maine they shouldn’t distract observers, citing examples such as curlew sandpiper (effectively ignored due to scarcity) and a Pacific golden-plover that appeared in Wells in June only for the second verified time in the state’s history. It then proposes sorting remaining birds into two groups: species typically found on mudflats and those usually elsewhere—like American woodcock, Wilson’s snipe and upland sandpipers—before further sorting mudflat birds by size.