Bill morphology influences the water depth preferences by winter migrant shorebirds in critical stopover sites along the west coast of India.

Water depth distributions at key wintering and foraging grounds of migratory shorebirds and the factors determines the water depth preferences of shorebirds are yet to be explored and it is necessary to map optimal shallow water habitat accessible to both smaller and larger shorebirds during migration. Our study aims to address this knowledge gap by testing the water depth preferences across three different types of habitats among the shorebird communities which differ in their body sizes/ morphological characteristics, particularly their bill and tarsus length, in the west coast of India.