Bird Guide › Ruddy Turnstone

How to Identify aRuddy Turnstone

Arenaria interpres · 8.7–9.4 in (22–24 cm)

Male vs. female

Male

Bright rufous back, bold black-and-white face and chest pattern, white belly and stubby orange legs; duller brown in winter.

Female

Like the male but with a browner crown and a less crisp face pattern.

Male photo: Chuck Homler d/b/a Focus On Wildlife / Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Second photo: Chuck Homler d/b/a Focus On Wildlife / Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Quick ID

A stocky orange-legged shorebird with a harlequin black-and-white face and rusty back in summer.

Field marks

Calico black, white and rust pattern
Short orange legs
Slightly upturned wedge-shaped black bill
Bold white back stripes and wing bars in flight

Similar species

Sanderling — Much paler with black legs and no calico pattern.

Dunlin — Has a long drooping bill and a black belly patch in summer.

What it sounds like

A low, rattling, staccato chuckle, often given as a flock takes off.

Behaviour that gives it away

Flips over stones, shells and seaweed with its wedge-shaped bill to grab whatever is hiding underneath — the habit it is named for.

Habitat & range

Rocky shores, jetties, beaches and mudflats; Arctic tundra in summer.

When you'll see it

Depending on where in eastern, western and southeastern North America you are, it is a winter visitor and a passage migrant, seen mainly in spring and autumn.