{"id":1164,"date":"2010-10-31T08:42:22","date_gmt":"2010-10-31T14:42:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=1164"},"modified":"2025-09-14T12:43:56","modified_gmt":"2025-09-14T17:43:56","slug":"shorebirds-of-fort-de-soto-ruddy-turnstones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2010\/10\/31\/shorebirds-of-fort-de-soto-ruddy-turnstones\/","title":{"rendered":"Shorebirds of Fort DeSoto – Ruddy Turnstones"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"NonbreedingNonbreeding plumage Ruddy Turnstone foraging on the beach at Fort De Soto, Florida –\u00a0 <\/strong>D200, handheld, f5.6, 1\/2000, ISO 250, 80-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

One of the easier medium-sized shorebirds to identify on Fort De Soto’s beaches<\/span><\/a> and tidal mudflats\u00a0are the Ruddy Turnstones (Arenaria interpres).<\/em><\/p>\n

The only other turnstone that frequents North America is the Black Turnstone and it occurs on the Pacific coast.<\/p>\n

Ruddy Turnstones breed in the high Arctic on barren grassy habitats, rocky coasts and seem to prefer wide open, barren areas near water.<\/p>\n

In the winter Ruddy Turnstones can be found along the Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf coasts and south to the Caribbean and South America.<\/p>\n

Even in nonbreeding plumage Ruddy Turnstones stand out from the other shorebirds that you will find at Fort De Soto because of\u00a0their short orange legs, bright white underparts, and feather patterns.<\/p>\n

Ruddy Turnstones were named for the reddish plumage on their backs and because they use their short chisel-like bills to turn over stones and shells while looking for small marine invertebrates and crustaceans.<\/p>\n

They also eat beetles, midges,\u00a0spiders and some plants during breeding season. It is also know to ingest unattended bird eggs.<\/p>\n

Outside of the breeding season turnstones can be opportunistic feeders and will include carrion and human garbage in\u00a0their diet.<\/p>\n

\"Ruddy Male Ruddy Turnstone in breeding plumage. Fort De Soto, Florida –\u00a0 D200, handheld, f9, 1\/640, ISO 160, 70-300mm VR at 270mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

In breeding plumage Ruddy Turnstones are quite distinctive with bold red patches on their backs contrasting sharply from the bright white chest and striking black feather patterns.<\/p>\n

The image above was taken in May and it is likely that this turnstone was on its way to the high Arctic to breed. In breeding plumage the coloration of the ruddy turnstone is similar to that of the breeding plumage Dunlin, however; they are easy to distinguish because of size, shape, bill shape, and leg color.<\/p>\n

A colorful shorebird, Ruddy Turnstones are always a pleasure to see and photograph. During migration they have been spotted\u00a0infrequently in the Great Salt Lake area of Utah, I will have to look for them.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a><\/span> to see more of my Ruddy Turnstone photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the easier medium-sized shorebirds to identify on Fort De Soto’s beaches and tidal mudflats are the Ruddy Turnstones. The only other turnstone that frequents North America is the Black Turnstone and it occurs on the Pacific coast.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":156006,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[163,27,25,704,2000,292],"tags":[4004,4439,4039,215,4030,5229,5132,4136,4077,4062,4031,1712,4017,3975,274,5837,4622],"class_list":["post-1164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bird-identification","category-avian","category-florida","category-fort-de-soto-county-park","category-pinellas-county-florida","category-ruddy-turnstones","tag-adult","tag-arenaria-interpres","tag-beach","tag-bird-id","tag-breeding","tag-coast","tag-coastal","tag-foraging","tag-gulf-of-mexico","tag-male","tag-nonbreeding","tag-ruddy-turnstone","tag-sand","tag-shorebird","tag-shorebirds-2","tag-turnstone","tag-turnstones"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/ruddy-turnstone-mia-mcpherson-fort-de-soto-male-breeding-6188.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-iM","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5916,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/08\/17\/ruddy-turnstones-in-breeding-and-nonbreeding-plumage\/","url_meta":{"origin":1164,"position":0},"title":"Ruddy Turnstones In Breeding And Nonbreeding Plumage","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 17, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Ruddy Turnstones in breeding and nonbreeding plumage can appear to be two different species to novice birders and bird photographers as can several other bird species.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Ruddy Turnstone close up, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/ruddy-turnstone-breeding-mia-mcpherson-6256.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/ruddy-turnstone-breeding-mia-mcpherson-6256.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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"Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Ruddy Turnstone side view at Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/ruddy-turnstone-beach-mia-mcpherson-6243.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/ruddy-turnstone-beach-mia-mcpherson-6243.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/ruddy-turnstone-beach-mia-mcpherson-6243.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/ruddy-turnstone-beach-mia-mcpherson-6243.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/ruddy-turnstone-nonbreeding-mia-mcpherson-5047.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/ruddy-turnstone-nonbreeding-mia-mcpherson-5047.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/ruddy-turnstone-nonbreeding-mia-mcpherson-5047.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/ruddy-turnstone-nonbreeding-mia-mcpherson-5047.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5433,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/08\/01\/ruddy-turnstone-bathing\/","url_meta":{"origin":1164,"position":3},"title":"Ruddy Turnstone Bathing","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 1, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"This Ruddy Turnstone (Arenaria interpres) image was created several years ago at Fort De Soto County Park's north beach in central Florida.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Bathing Ruddy Turnstone","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/ruddy-turnstone-bathing-mia-mcpherson-1136.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/ruddy-turnstone-bathing-mia-mcpherson-1136.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/ruddy-turnstone-bathing-mia-mcpherson-1136.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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