Identification of breeding waterbirds, nests, eggs and chicks

During breeding season, in the field you need to identify the species based on different clues: you may see an adult on the nest but maybe only the chick or the eggs because the adults have fleed and there were various species breeding together. Sometimes you may even be too late and want to identify the species based on the characteristics of the nest. To help you in the identification of the species, we prepared this guide. Be careful not to go into the field and disturb the birds breeding if you have not been trained.

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Click here to download a zip file with all the pdf sheets (9.3 Mo).

Greater Flamingo Phoenicopterus roseus	Glossy Ibis Plegadis falcinellus	Eurasian Spoonbill Platalea leucorodia
Eurasian Bittern Botaurus stellaris	Little Bittern Ixobrychus minutus	Black-crowned Night Heron Nycticorax nycticorax
Cattle Egret Bubulcus ibis	Grey Heron Ardea cinerea	Purple Heron Ardea purpurea
Great Egret Ardea alba	Little Egret Egretta garzetta	Great White Pelican Pelecanus onocrotalus
Dalmatian Pelican Pelecanus crispus	Great Cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo	Pied Avocet Recurvirostra avosetta
Collared Pratincole Glareola pratincola	Slender-billed Gull Chroicocephalus genei	Black-headed Gull Chroicocephalus ridibundus
Mediterranean Gull Ichthyaetus melanocephalus	Yellow-legged Gull Larus michahellis	Gull-billed Tern Gelochelidon nilotica
Sandwich Tern Thalasseus sandvicensis	Little Tern Sternula albifrons	Common Tern Sterna hirundo