seabird

American  

[see-burd] / ˈsiˌbɜrd /

Or sea bird

noun

1. a bird frequenting the sea or coast.

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Etymology

Origin of seabird

First recorded in 1580–90; sea + bird

Explanation

A seabird is any bird that lives most of its life near the sea (makes sense, right?). Gulls are one of the most common types of seabird. When you go to the beach, you're bound to sea at least some seabirds. The big gray and white seabirds that try to steal your lunch are gulls, and the tiny seabirds that look like wind-up toys running in a group along the tideline may be plovers. Most seabirds nest in large colonies, and most of them are also migratory, meaning they travel many miles during the course of a year, often circumnavigating the entire planet.

Example Sentences

It says something about Diamond’s heat in the wake of “Hot August Night” that he scored a Top 40 hit with a song from a movie about an intrepid seabird.

From Los Angeles Times • May 6, 2026

The towering chalk cliffs of Bempton are home to England's "largest seabird city", with about half a million puffins, gannets, kittiwakes and guillemots living there between March and August each year, according to the RSPB.

From BBC • Apr. 19, 2026

"Colonial-era writings we studied report that communities across coastal Peru and northern Chile sailed to several nearby islands on rafts to collect seabird droppings for fertilization."

From Science Daily • Mar. 7, 2026

The results strongly suggest the crops were fertilized with seabird guano, which is rich in nitrogen because seabirds feed on marine life.

From Science Daily • Mar. 7, 2026

The pilot pitches the nose of the seabird up from the reservoir basin and together they soar.

From "Dry" by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman