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Black Turnstone

Arenaria melanocephala ORDER: CHARADRIIFORMES FAMILY: SCOLOPACIDAE

IUCN Conservation Status: Least Concern

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The Black Turnstone is one of the defining species for the rocky, wave-battered Pacific Coast. It blends in well with the dark rocks, but a careful winter observer will find it from Alaska through Baja California. It is rarely found far from the vicinity of spraying waves.

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Calls

  • Calls
  • Courtesy of Macaulay Library
    © Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Constant rattles and dry chatters in winter feeding flock. On breeding ground, calls a persistent "weet, weet, too-weet" at intruders.

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Search the Macaulay Library online archive for more sounds and videos