Family: Scolopacidae, Sandpipers view all from this family

Description 9" (23 cm). Resembles Ruddy Turnstone in general patterns. In breeding plumage, black upperparts, head, and breast; large white spot in front of eye and white line above eye; fine white spotting from nape across side of breast; white belly. In winter plumage, dusky black with unstreaked white belly. Legs dark. Bill short and slightly upturned. In flight, shows a black and white pattern.

Habitat Breeds in marshy coastal tundra; seaweed-covered rocky shores in fall and winter.

Nesting 4 yellowish-olive eggs, with darker olive and brown markings, in an unlined depression on an open, pebbly ridge or a gravel bar in wet tundra.

Range Breeds on western and southern coasts of Alaska. Winters all along West Coast from Alaska south to Baja California and Sonora, Mexico.

Voice   A grating rattle similar to that of Ruddy Turnstone.

Discussion Unlike the Ruddy Turnstone, a more widespread species, the Black Turnstone is partial to rocky coasts. Turnstones are aggressive; a wintering bird that has found a good foraging spot will hotly defend it against other turnstones.