This is a list of Charadriiformes species by global population. While numbers are estimates, they have been made by the experts in their fields. Charadriiformes (Charadrius being Latin for "plover") is the taxonomic order to which the waders, gulls, and auks belong. BirdLife International has assessed 352 species; 181 (51% of total species) have had their population estimated. Bird taxonomy is currently in a state of flux, much wider in scope than the complications arising from the realization that birds are dinosaurs, and a full scientific consensus on the division of orders has yet to be settled upon. The Charadriiformes, for example, are grouped with the Ciconiiformes in the Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy. In the interest of standardization this article, along with the rest of the Wikipedia B