California Gull, off Newport, Oregon, 1 March 2008 by Greg Gillson.The 13 categories of North American birds listed in the Field-friendly bird sequence: Part II are:
Swimming Waterbirds
Flying Waterbirds
Wading Waterbirds
Chicken-like Birds
Raptors
Miscellaneous Landbirds
Aerial Landbirds
Flycatcher-like Birds
Thrush-like Songbirds
Chickadee and Wren-like Songbirds
Warbler-like Songbirds
Sparrow and Finch-like Songbirds
Blackbird-like Songbirds
A beginner should be able to quickly place a bird they see into one of these categories.
The flying waterbirds are web-footed birds. While they can and do swim, they are often observed flying over the water looking for food. When they find it they either pick it off the surface and keep flying, or plunge into the water from the air for food, then fly up to do it again. While the swimming waterbirds are represented by ducks, the flying waterbirds are represented by the gulls.
Flying waterbirds include Albatrosses and petrels, pelicans, gulls and terns, skuas.
Black-footed Albatross, off Newport, Oregon, 6 March 2010 by Greg Gillson.
Brown Pelican, Newport, Oregon, 2 October 2009 by Greg Gillson.
Arctic Tern, off Newport, Oregon, 10 August 2008 by Greg Gillson.
Pomarine Jaeger, off Newport, Oregon, 1 March 2008 by Greg Gillson.