Ruddy Turnstone

About the Ruddy Turnstone

The Ruddy Turnstone is the shorebird in harlequin dress - breeding adults wear a calico patchwork of chestnut, black, and white unlike anything else on the beach, with a black bib, white belly, and short orange legs. Winter birds trade the calico for dull brown but keep the unmistakable pattern in flight: bold white stripes down the back, wings, and tail.

The name is literal. Turnstones work the tide line by flipping stones, shells, and mats of seaweed with their slightly upturned, chisel-like bills, grabbing the invertebrates hiding beneath - a feeding niche so distinctive that "turning stones" is usually the first behavior noticed. They are catholic feeders beyond that, taking everything from horseshoe crab eggs to carrion and picnic scraps.

Turnstones breed on high-Arctic tundra and are among the planet's great travelers - some individuals fly from Arctic Canada to South America and back every year, and banded birds have logged hundreds of thousands of lifetime miles. Migrants refuel at traditional staging sites with remarkable schedule fidelity.

On the Texas coast, Ruddy Turnstones are present most of the year - abundant in migration, common in winter, with non-breeders loafing through summer - rattling among the granite jetties, shell beaches, and wrack lines. The jetties at the passes are reliable almost any day of the year.