{"id":6712,"date":"2012-12-05T05:12:39","date_gmt":"2012-12-05T12:12:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=6712"},"modified":"2025-09-14T13:00:27","modified_gmt":"2025-09-14T18:00:27","slug":"ruddy-turnstone-on-driftwood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/12\/05\/ruddy-turnstone-on-driftwood\/","title":{"rendered":"Ruddy Turnstone On Driftwood"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"RuddyRuddy Turnstone on Driftwood – Nikon D200, handheld, f5.6, 1\/640, ISO 500, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

In Florida it wasn’t often that I would see Ruddy Turnstones perched on anything other than the sand so I was tickled one morning when I came across this turnstone in nonbreeding plumage perched on a piece of weathered driftwood just after the sun came over the horizon with the waters of the Gulf of Mexico<\/span><\/a> behind it.<\/p>\n

Ruddy Turnstones breed in the high Arctic and winter along the shore lines of the Gulf of Mexico, Pacific and Atlantic coastlines, the Caribbean and as far south as South America.<\/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":"

I was tickled one morning when I came across this Turnstone in nonbreeding plumage perched on a piece of weathered driftwood just after the sun came over the horizon with the waters of the Gulf of Mexico behind it. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":156018,"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":[27,25,704,2000,292],"tags":[4439,4021,5229,5132,1996,4077,4031,1712,274,4190,5837,4622],"class_list":["post-6712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-florida","category-fort-de-soto-county-park","category-pinellas-county-florida","category-ruddy-turnstones","tag-arenaria-interpres","tag-bird-photography","tag-coast","tag-coastal","tag-driftwood","tag-gulf-of-mexico","tag-nonbreeding","tag-ruddy-turnstone","tag-shorebirds-2","tag-sunrise","tag-turnstone","tag-turnstones"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/ruddy-turnstone-nonbreeding-mia-mcpherson-5047.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-1Kg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1164,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2010\/10\/31\/shorebirds-of-fort-de-soto-ruddy-turnstones\/","url_meta":{"origin":6712,"position":0},"title":"Shorebirds of Fort DeSoto – Ruddy Turnstones","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 31, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"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.","rel":"","context":"In "Bird ID"","block_context":{"text":"Bird ID","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/bird-identification\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Ruddy Turnstone in breeding plumage, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/ruddy-turnstone-mia-mcpherson-fort-de-soto-male-breeding-6188.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-mia-mcpherson-fort-de-soto-male-breeding-6188.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/ruddy-turnstone-mia-mcpherson-fort-de-soto-male-breeding-6188.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Shorebirds were my bird photography spark birds and they ignited the fire I have within me to go out into the field as often as possible to photograph all wild birds","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Alert Ruddy Turnstone on driftwood 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-alerrt-mia-mcpherson-5052.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-alerrt-mia-mcpherson-5052.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/ruddy-turnstone-alerrt-mia-mcpherson-5052.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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photographed this Ruddy Turnstone in early morning light at Fort De Soto County Park in Florida several years ago as it stood on the sandy beach.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Early morning Ruddy Turnstone, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/ruddy-turnstone-nonbreeding-mia-mcpherson-3243.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-3243.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-3243.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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