French grasslands support important populations of waders. Grazing intensity is a key issue since these birds are very sensitive to grass height and heterogeneity. On 1594 plots, grazing intensity was characterized as a combination of stocking rate and the proportion of days grazed on each day on which birds were observed. This made it possible to standardized stocking rates such that the various cumulative of time were minimized. We modeled the relationship between stocking rate and the proportion of days grazed on plots occupied by birds and those that did not. Birds select plots with a mean spring stocking rate that is significantly lower than the global mean and bird species richness is negatively correlated with intensity of spring grazing. Birds show a degree of specialization towards grazing intensity: redshank and curlews being two extremes of low and high intensity. Variance in the start date of grazing is only significantly lower than global variance for plots occupied by black tailed godwit and redshank and when only grazed plots are included in the analysis. Those results indicate that a diversity of grazing regimes is necessary to preserve habitat quality for birds. From such analysis useful indicators can be derived to assess positive side –effects of livestock farming systems.