With fall migration underway, there’s a short list of shorebirds I’m still hoping to find. One of them is the gorgeous Ruddy Turnstone.
Ruddy Turnstones are unique among shorebirds in having very short bills that are also thick and slightly upturned. (OK, there’s one other species shaped the same way, the Black Turnstone of the West Coast, but Texas has only one record of that species so we’ll ignore it for now.) They use this bill to turn over stones, shells, small pieces of driftwood, etc. in search of their favorite food—adult and larval flies.
In the breeding season, Ruddy Turnstones are snazzy. They have mostly white heads with some “I just discovered eye liner and I want to look like Alice Cooper” black going on around the eyes. The back is bright reddish brown and mottled with black. The legs are bright orange, also fairly unique among shorebirds.
While we could find a bird in breeding plumage in Taylor County, we’re more likely to see a bird in non-breeding or at some transition phase between the two plumages. Winter birds are a little less impressive, but still distinct and easy enough to identify provided you get a clear look. The back and head are mottled brown, the legs are still bright orange, the belly’s still white, and the black around the eyes and across the breast is still there, it’s just not quite as bold.
Also, and I can’t say this enough, pay attention to the bill! Many beginning birders often forget to look at the bill and use it as clue to a bird’s identity. It will often be of great help, not just on turnstones but lots of birds!
A Global Distribution
Ruddy Turnstones nest in the Arctic Circle but not just in North America. They’re found in Europe and Asia too, making a ring around the northern pole in the breeding season, where they nest on the Arctic tundra with other shorebird species.
Populations come south for the winter and reside on sandy beaches of the Gulf Coast, South America, virtually all of Africa, southern Asia, Indonesia, and Australia. This is a very coastal species, occurring inland typically only during migration. Thus this species is on six of the world’s seven continents!
In the U.S., birds migrate down the eastern half of the Great Plains states, typically more common in the eastern third of Texas. They are a common and familiar sight along the Texas coast during winter.
In Taylor County
While rare in West Texas, there are records. I’ve seen the bird once in Taylor County, a September record a few years back from Kirby Lake, and again in Jones County during May one year. It could turn up any time from now through mid October. Look for them anywhere there’s muddy or sandy soils, like Kirby Lake or Hargesheimer Water Treatment Plant. They’re one of the birds I still have a decent chance of finding this year.
All Articles About Shorebirds
- Introduction to Shorebirds – The Biggest Group You’ve Never Heard Of
- American Avocet – A Stunning Shorebird
- Black-bellied Plover – I Want the Cry Baby
- Snowy Plover – Who Says It Can’t Snow in Summer?
- Semipalmated Plover – The Little Killdeer
- Piping Plover – Day 246: First County Record of the Pale One
- Killdeer – The Deer Slayer
- Mountain Plover – I Would Scream Like a Girl at a Beatles Concert
- Upland Sandpiper – The Shorebird that Doesn’t Need a Shore
- Whimbrel – Day 110: Chasing Other People’s Birds
- Long-billed Curlew – The Hottest Birding of the Year
- Hudsonian Godwit – The Arctic Comes in May
- Marbled Godwit – Look What the Storm Blew In!
- Ruddy Turnstone – When You’ve Got It, Flaunt It
- Stilt Sandpiper – All the Lousy Weather Brought Me was a Stilt Sandpiper
- Dunlin – The Brown One
- Sanderling – Day 252: Knowing When to Walk Away
- Curlew Sandpiper – So Rare a Steak House Wouldn’t Recognize It
- Baird’s Sandpiper – My Peeps, the Little Shorebirds
- Least Sandpiper – My Peeps, the Little Shorebirds
- White-rumped Sandpiper – My Peeps, the Little Shorebirds
- Buff-breasted Sandpiper – The Art of Seduction
- Pectoral Sandpiper – Day 245: Returns in Fall
- Semipalmated Sandpiper – My Peeps, the Little Shorebirds
- Western Sandpiper – My Peeps, the Little Shorebirds
- Long-billed and Short-billed Dowitcher – How to Identify a Dowitcher
- American Woodcock – A Shorebird of Forests
- Wilson’s Snipe – Snipe Are Real Birds. Really.
- Wilson’s Phalarope – When Men Look Like Ladies and Ladies Look Like Men
- Red-necked Phalarope – The Other Phalaropes
- Red Phalarope – The Other Phalaropes
- Solitary Sandpiper – The Grasspiper
- Greater Yellowlegs – The Big One
- Willet – Day 103: Willet Ever Stop Raining?
- Lesser Yellowlegs – The Little One