20 Birds With Webbed Feet (With Photos & Facts)

Some birds are made for the skies, others for land but a special group is perfectly designed for life in the water. Birds with webbed feet use their toes like paddles, helping them glide through lakes, rivers, and oceans with ease. These feet aren’t just for swimming—they’re for steering, diving, and sometimes even walking on mud or snow without sinking.

Let’s explore the birds with webbed feet, starting with one of the most familiar:

1.Ducks

Ducks are the poster birds for webbed feet. These versatile waterfowl are found all over the world, from backyard ponds to icy mountain streams. Their feet are palmate, meaning three front toes are connected by skin, forming a strong paddle-like structure.

This unique design lets ducks propel themselves through water, steer smoothly, and even walk across slippery surfaces with surprising agility. On land, they might waddle but in water, they’re graceful and fast.

• Habitat: Lakes, rivers, marshes, coastal areas
• Diet: Aquatic plants, insects, small fish, grains
• Fun Fact: Some ducks, like the wood duck, even perch in trees and have partially webbed feet adapted for gripping!

Ducklings are born ready to swim, paddling along with their mothers within hours of hatching. Whether dabbling on the surface or diving for food, ducks rely on their webbed feet to get the job done.

2.Geese

Geese, like their duck relatives, have palmate webbed feet—perfect for both swimming and walking across land. These large, strong birds are excellent long-distance flyers but are also confident swimmers, gliding gracefully through lakes and rivers.

Their webbed feet help them steer through water while foraging for aquatic plants. On land, geese often use their sturdy feet for digging in grass and mud.

• Habitat: Wetlands, lakes, grasslands
• Diet: Grasses, aquatic plants, grains
• Fun Fact: Geese migrate thousands of miles, often flying in V-formations to conserve energy

Though they may look a little awkward on land, in water, geese are powerful swimmers thanks to their broad, webbed feet.

3.Swans

Swans are some of the most elegant water birds in the world—and their beauty is backed up by strength. Their webbed feet not only push them through water but also help them take off for flight, which requires a long running start across the surface.

Like ducks and geese, swans have palmate feet, and their large size gives them excellent swimming power.

• Habitat: Lakes, rivers, estuaries
• Diet: Aquatic vegetation, small insects
• Fun Fact: Swans mate for life and are fiercely territorial during breeding season

With their serene glide and powerful kicks, swans are the royalty of waterbirds.

4.Gulls

Gulls aren’t just beachside scavengers—they’re strong swimmers with webbed feet that help them maneuver through water while hunting fish or resting at sea.

Their palmate feet also make it easier to take off from the water’s surface. Whether floating on waves or strutting across sandy shores, gulls make full use of their webbed toes.

• Habitat: Coasts, lakes, garbage dumps, inland waterways
• Diet: Fish, crustaceans, scraps, eggs
• Fun Fact: Gulls are incredibly smart and have been observed using tools and dropping shellfish from heights to crack them open

Their combination of intelligence and foot power makes them the opportunists of the bird world.

5.Terns

Terns are sleek, nimble seabirds with webbed feet that help them stay afloat after their famous plunge-dives. They’re not the strongest swimmers, but their feet are essential for balance on water and in flight takeoffs.

While they spend most of their time in the air, those small webbed feet give them a backup flotation system when resting.

• Habitat: Coasts, islands, estuaries
• Diet: Fish, insects
• Fun Fact: Terns can migrate up to 44,000 miles a year—making the Arctic Tern’s trip the longest migration on Earth

Terns are all about speed and efficiency, and their webbed feet help them stay versatile.

6.Loons

Loons are expert divers, and their webbed feet are placed far back on their bodies to give them maximum underwater propulsion. These birds are nearly built for swimming more than walking—in fact, they struggle to move on land at all.

They can dive hundreds of feet deep to catch fish, using their feet like flippers.

• Habitat: Northern lakes and coastal areas
• Diet: Fish, crustaceans, aquatic insects
• Fun Fact: Loons have eerie, haunting calls that echo across lakes during breeding season

They’re graceful underwater but clumsy on land—nature made a clear trade-off here.

7.Pelicans

With massive throat pouches and totipalmate feet (where all four toes are webbed), pelicans are built for fishing. These feet help them steer while swimming and provide power for launching off the water’s surface.

Whether they’re scooping fish or soaring above the waves, their webbed feet do more than just paddle.

• Habitat: Coastal waters, estuaries, lakes
• Diet: Fish, amphibians
• Fun Fact: Pelicans can hold up to 3 gallons of water in their bill pouch

Their totipalmate feet make them one of the strongest swimmers among seabirds.

8.Cormorants

Cormorants are underwater hunters, and like pelicans, they have totipalmate feet. Their long bodies and powerful kicks let them dive deep and swim swiftly to chase fish.

After a dive, they’re often seen with wings outstretched—drying off because their feathers absorb water for better diving.

• Habitat: Lakes, coasts, rivers
• Diet: Fish, eels
• Fun Fact: Some fishermen in Asia use trained cormorants to catch fish

Their feet are key to their stealthy and agile underwater movements.

9.Anhingas

Nicknamed “snakebirds” for their long necks, anhingas are similar to cormorants and also sport totipalmate feet. They’re quiet divers and rely on their webbed toes for swimming silently through water.

Their swimming style is different—they float lower in the water, with only their heads above the surface, looking like a periscope.

• Habitat: Freshwater swamps, marshes, rivers
• Diet: Fish, amphibians
• Fun Fact: Anhingas must dry their wings before flying because their feathers soak up water

Their webbed feet are essential for gliding smoothly through wetlands.

10.Frigatebirds

Frigatebirds are aerial acrobats of the sea, spending most of their lives soaring over oceans. While they rarely swim or land on water, they do have webbed feet, specifically totipalmate feet, where all four toes are connected by webbing.

These feet aren’t for swimming they’re used for grabbing fish mid-air, perching on ships or branches, and steadying during nesting.

• Habitat: Tropical oceans and islands
• Diet: Fish, squid, and stolen food from other birds
• Fun Fact: Males inflate a massive red throat pouch to attract mates—it looks like a balloon!

Despite being seabirds, frigatebirds avoid getting wet they can’t waterproof their feathers like most waterbirds.

11.Boobies

Funny name, serious swimmers. Boobies are tropical seabirds known for their colorful feet and totipalmate webbing. Their feet help with swimming, landing on rocky shores, and even elaborate courtship dances—especially in species like the Blue-footed Booby.

They’re expert divers, plunging from the sky to catch fish near the surface.

• Habitat: Tropical islands and coastlines
• Diet: Fish, squid
• Fun Fact: The brighter a booby’s feet, the more attractive it is to potential mates

Their webbed feet are crucial both in the air and underwater.

12.Gannets

Gannets are large, powerful seabirds with totipalmate feet built for swimming and stabilizing their dives. When they plunge into the ocean for fish, their webbed feet help with control and break the surface tension.

These birds can hit the water at over 60 mph, and their feet act like rudders in those high-speed plunges.

• Habitat: Coastal cliffs and open seas
• Diet: Fish, mostly small schooling species
• Fun Fact: Gannets have special air sacs in their faces to cushion their impact when diving

Their feet may not be flashy, but they’re built for high-performance hunting.

13.Puffins

Puffins look like little clowns of the sea, but don’t let the cute fool you they are strong swimmers with palmate webbed feet. These help them paddle underwater while hunting fish.

Their feet also help dig burrows and grip slippery cliff ledges where they nest.

• Habitat: North Atlantic coasts and islands
• Diet: Fish, mainly sand eels
• Fun Fact: Puffins can carry a dozen fish in their beak at once thanks to backward-facing spines on their tongue

When not underwater, they waddle like penguins and fly with frantic wingbeats.

14.Penguins

All penguin species have strong, webbed feet, but they don’t use them for flying they’re world-class swimmers that use both feet and flipper-like wings to dive, steer, and navigate icy waters.

Their short legs and webbed toes are also good for tobogganing across ice and navigating rocky terrain.

• Habitat: Southern Hemisphere (from Antarctica to the tropics)
• Diet: Fish, squid, krill
• Fun Fact: Penguins can swim up to 15 mph and dive over 1,000 feet deep

They may be flightless, but in the water, penguins are basically torpedoes in tuxedos.

15.Flamingos

You might not think of flamingos as swimmers, but their webbed feet help them walk through muddy lagoons and stir up food in shallow water. Their feet are palmate, allowing them to keep balance on soft surfaces and even swim when needed.

They often stand on one leg—not because of their feet, but to conserve body heat.

• Habitat: Saline lakes, lagoons, wetlands
• Diet: Algae, crustaceans, plankton
• Fun Fact: Their pink color comes from pigments in their food—not their feathers naturally

Flamingos use their feet just as much as their curved beaks to filter-feed in water.

16.Grebes

Grebes are one of the few birds with lobed feet instead of traditional webbing. Each toe has its own flap of skin, giving them power in the water and better mobility among reeds.

These birds are fantastic divers and often swim completely submerged while hunting.

• Habitat: Freshwater lakes and ponds
• Diet: Fish, insects, small invertebrates
• Fun Fact: Grebes swallow some of their own feathers to help filter fish bones in their stomachs

Lobed feet are unique and give grebes a surprising edge in aquatic agility.

17.Coots

Often mistaken for ducks, coots also have lobed feet rather than fully webbed ones. These feet help them swim well and walk across soft mud or even floating vegetation.

They’re excellent at balancing between land and water life.

• Habitat: Freshwater ponds, lakes, marshes
• Diet: Aquatic plants, insects
• Fun Fact: Coot chicks are born with bright red-orange heads that fade with age

Coots may look simple, but their feet are impressively specialized.

18.Phalaropes

Phalaropes are small, graceful shorebirds with lobed toes—perfect for spinning in circles on water to stir up plankton and tiny aquatic insects. Unlike most shorebirds, phalaropes are excellent swimmers, and their unusual feet make them even more efficient.

Interestingly, the females are more colorful and aggressive, while males incubate the eggs and care for chicks.

• Habitat: Arctic breeding grounds; winters on tropical oceans
• Diet: Zooplankton, aquatic insects
• Fun Fact: Phalaropes often spin rapidly on the water’s surface to create whirlpools that bring food up

These tiny birds are among the few that blur the line between waders and waterbirds.

19.Finfoots

Finfoots are secretive birds found in the tropics, and their lobed feet make them agile in water and sneaky on land. Despite being excellent swimmers, they don’t spend all their time in the water and are surprisingly good climbers too.

They’re often hard to spot and quietly slip away before you even notice them.

• Habitat: Freshwater streams, rivers, mangroves
• Diet: Insects, snails, small fish
• Fun Fact: Finfoots are elusive and rarely seen, making them a “holy grail” bird for wildlife watchers

Their feet are built for a mixed lifestyle—swimming, wading, and walking.

20.Albatrosses

The albatross is a master of the open ocean. These massive seabirds have palmate webbed feet, which help them paddle when floating and provide traction during landing and takeoff from the water.

But let’s be honest—they’re more famous for their incredible flying ability, often soaring for thousands of miles without touching land.

• Habitat: Southern oceans and remote islands
• Diet: Squid, fish, krill
• Fun Fact: The wandering albatross has the longest wingspan of any bird—up to 11 feet

Their feet may not get much glory, but they play a key role in surviving life at sea.

Final Thoughts

From lakes and rivers to open oceans, webbed feet give birds an edge where others would sink or stumble. Whether diving deep, paddling through waves, or just balancing on muddy shores, these birds make the most of their built-in flippers.

Webbed or lobed, these feet are natural tools that turn simple birds into expert swimmers and survivors.