Ruddy Turnstone

The Ruddy Turnstone is arguably our most handsome shorebird. Breeding adu1ts are boldly patterned in black, white, and rufous, and have bright orange legs, a sharp contrast to the generally gray and brown sandpipers that share their habitats. Juveniles and winter birds are much more cryptic, although the underlying pattern on the head and breast remains. Despite their striking plumage, turnstones can still be difficult to pick out on the rocky shorelines where they forage since the patterns serve to break up their outlines.

Turnstones are well named. They use their wedge-shaped bills to flip over rocks and shells to get at whatever prey are hiding underneath, typically worms, small mollusks, and crustaceans. They will also dig around in clumps of living or dead seaweed in search of food, and like other shorebirds probe into sand or mud. In New Hampshire you are most likely to find turnstones on rocky shorelines, especially at the Isles of Shoals and primarily in the fall. In the winter they are rare or uncommon north of Virginia but abundant on beaches farther south. During this time, they are sometimes even found foraging for carrion or other edibles in landfills or waste piles – a truly opportunistic shorebird.

Despite their apparent adaptability, turnstones, like so many other shorebirds, are in decline. Based on a recent analysis of data from migration stopovers in eastern North America, numbers have dropped 80% since 1980. The threats they face are similar to those faced by other shorebirds, including human disturbance, habitat degradation, and changes in critical food resources. Because small numbers of turnstones pass through New Hampshire, and those that do are often in more inaccessible locations, these threats are probably minimal here, although any actions to benefit other shorebirds will certainly help turnstones as well.