Black Turnstone

In March 2025 we visited our son, Sam, who was living at the time in Santa Cruz, California. On the 29th we took a circuitous drive, starting inland, looking for pileated woodpeckers (unsuccessfully), then circled around to the coast and drove south, stopping at a number of beautiful beaches, including Pescadero State Beach which is along SR 1, 14.5 miles south of Half Moon Bay and 1.5 miles west of the city of Pescadero, in San Mateo County. I found my first and only (so far) black turnstones, which look quite a bit like the ruddy turnstone, but are not as colorful. 

Illustration from Birds of the World.

Range from Birds of the World. 

It breeds in western Alaska with the bulk of the population in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. It winters on rock shores along the Pacific coast from southern Alaska southwards as far as northwest Mexico.