Some birds probe deeply into the sediment, others take food from the surface. Feeding differences are reflected in the shapes and lengths of their bills.
Some waders use their bills to turn over shells, stones and seaweed in search of food.
They are equipped with semi-webbed feet with long toes adapted for walking on soft sediments and have long legs compared with body size. Some of the birds that feed on the intertidal flats migrate over 12,000 kilometres from as far away as Siberia, China and Japan. It is a regular spring and summer migrant from north-eastern Siberia. Recently the adjacent Taren Point mudflats have also become a significant feeding area for waders. Indeed that area and the birds who use it have recently been declared as an endangered ecological community by the NSW Scientific Committee.