Ruddy Turnstone

I keep running into ruddy turnstones in the same spots every year, and every year I think I’ve worked them out. I haven’t.

Structure is the best clue at distance: in flight the ruddy turnstone has a particular proportion you start to recognize before any field mark resolves.

I avoid published counts of population estimates here. My interest is a sightings journal, not a density map.

I’ve had good looks during fall migration on ridges and less consistent luck at coastal stopovers.

If I had to explain what pulled me into birding, I’d point at a ruddy turnstone and not try to say more.