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Ruddy Turnstone (Arenaria interpres) Alternate name(s): "Turnstone", "Beach-bird" German name(s): "Steinwälzer" Size: 21-26 cm; wing span 50-57 cm Body mass: 85-190 g Wing loading [g/cm2]: 0.39-0.51/0.89 (lean/fat)

Europe: Family Group 8 Family Group 8 Table Ruddy Turnstone Common Snipe Eurasian Woodcock Bar-tailed Godwit Black-tailed Godwit Eurasian Curlew Whimbrel Little Curlew Sanderling Temminck's Stint Little Stint Dunlin Purple Sandpiper Marsh Sandpiper Common Greenshank Common Redshank Spotted Redshank Lesser Yellowlegs Wood Sandpiper Curlew Sandpiper Common Sandpiper Green Sandpiper Buff-breasted Sandpiper Ruff Thumbnails page Family group table Index of bird names European birds home page

Description     Classification     Distribution     Sightings     Photos     Breeding     Nest     Eggs     Behaviour     Food     Call/s

Physical description Click here for a physical description Ruddy Turnstones are small, relatively short-legged shorebirds. Their plumage changes between breeding and non-breeding season. During the breeding season, Ruddy Turnstones have a black and white pied head, with a striated cap, white cheek patches white neck patches and a black "bib" extending into a black breast band. Belly and vent are white. The wings are mostly greyish brown in the outer parts, with white and brown stripes and a black stripe in between and a black shoulder patch in the middle of the upperparts. The bill is black, with a white base. The short legs and feet are orange. In eclipse the cheeks, cap and wings all turn mottled dark-greyish brown, while the rest of the plumage remains unchanged in colour. Juveniles resemble adults in eclipse, but with pale fringes to the dark feathers of their upperparts.

Taxonomy, classification See Ruddy Turnstone at Wikipedia .

Range, habitat, finding this species Click here for information on habitat and range The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found, based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to ebird.org . The global distribution of the Ruddy Turnstone is available HERE . Ruddy Turnstones are a strongly migratory global species of waders, of which there are at least two races. They breed in the northern parts of Eurasia and North America. Race "morinella" populates northern Alaska and in Arctic Canada as far East as Baffin Island. Everywhere else nominate race "interpres" is found, e.g. in Europe and Australia. While not breeding, Ruddy Turnstones can be found along the coastlines of all continents except Antarctica, from the southern parts of the northern hemisphere to almost anywhere along the coastlines in the southern hemisphere. On their migration they can also be found mostly along sea shores and only rarely around inland lakes. In Europe Ruddy Turnstones, nominate race "interpres", breed around the coastlines of Scandinavia (both Atlantic Ocean and Baltic Sea side) and of north-western Russia. In the past they also used to breed on the southern Baltic coastline. They nest only near the coast, in open, usually rocky terrain. Part of the population spends the northern winters along the coastlines of the British Isles and the continental North Sea and Atlantic coastlines from Denmark southwards to Gibraltar. They do not usually stay in the Mediterranean. Those that migrate further South have their winter quarters in sub-Saharan Africa, as far as the Cape of Good Hope. Ruddy Turnstones are usually found on rocky shores, coastal rockfaces, exposed reefs and wave platforms, often where shells and/or seaweeds are present.

Sightings Click here for sighting information Race "interpres" M. Eaton reports spotting Ruddy Turnstones, nominate race "interpres", near Tromso airport, Tromso, Norway, in June 2018. M. Eaton also found Ruddy Turnstones, nominate race "interpres", near Wadebridge, Cornwall, England, in September 2019. D. Wilczynska reports finding Ruddy Turnstones, nominate race "interpres", on the Canary Islands in March 2017. Both J. Pires and G. Pinelas report finding Ruddy Turnstones, nominate race "interpres", occasionally during the winter months along the coastline of southern to central Portugal. A Ruddy Turnstone, race "interpres", was found by G. Normand in Douarnenez, Bretagne, France, in August 2020. C. Pears spotted Ruddy Turnstones, nominate race "interpres", at Clonakilty, County Cork, Ireland, in September 2023. H. Dahlem-Senger found a small mob of Ruddy Turnstones, nominate race "interpres" at Neuharlingersiel, Ostfriesland, Germany, in September 2024. A. Sarok reports spotting Ruddy Turnstones, race "interpres", in Vojvodina, Serbia, in the timeframe 2010-2024.

Photos

Race "interpres"

ADULT

Sex unknown

BREEDING

Frontal view of a Ruddy Turnstone in breeding plumage (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Near Tromso airport, Tromso, Norway, June 2018]

Frontal view of a Ruddy Turnstone in breeding plumage (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Salinas de Vasa Sacos, Benavente, Santarem, Portugal, August 2022]

Frontal view of a Ruddy Turnstone in breeding plumage looking sideways (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Near Tromso airport, Tromso, Norway, June 2018]

Near-frontal view of a Ruddy Turnstone in breeding plumage (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Near Tromso airport, Tromso, Norway, June 2018]

Near-lateral view of a Ruddy Turnstone in breeding plumage (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Cabo Raso, Cascais, near Lisbon, Portugal, April 2018]

Near-lateral view of a Ruddy Turnstone in breeding plumage (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Salinas de Vasa Sacos, Benavente, Santarem, Portugal, August 2022]

Close-up lateral view of a Ruddy Turnstone in breeding plumage issuing its call (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Near Tromso airport, Tromso, Norway, June 2018]

Lateral view of a Ruddy Turnstone in breeding plumage issuing its call (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Near Tromso airport, Tromso, Norway, June 2018]

Lateral view of a preening Ruddy Turnstone in breeding plumage (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Near Tromso airport, Tromso, Norway, June 2018]

Dorsal view of a Ruddy Turnstone in breeding plumage (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Near Tromso airport, Tromso, Norway, June 2018]

Distant near-dorsal view of a Ruddy Turnstone in breeding plumage in flight (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Salinas de Vasa Sacos, Benavente, Santarem, Portugal, August 2022]

Near-dorsal view of a Ruddy Turnstone moulting into non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of G. Normand)
[Douarnenez, Bretagne, France, August 2020]

NON-BREEDING

Full-frontal view of a Ruddy Turnstone in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of D. Wilczynska)
[Canary Islands, March 2017]

Near-frontal view of a Ruddy Turnstone in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of C. Pears)
[Clonakilty, County Cork, Ireland, September 2023]

Near-lateral view of a Ruddy Turnstone in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Near Wadebridge, Cornwall, England, September 2019]

Lateral view of a Ruddy Turnstone in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Sagres, Algarve, Portugal, October 2019]

Lateral view of a Ruddy Turnstone in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Cabo Sardao, Odemira, Portugal, October 2018]

Lateral view of a Ruddy Turnstone in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Salinas da Fuseta, Olhao, Faro, Algarve, Portugal, November 2021]

Lateral view of a Ruddy Turnstone in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Vila Franca de Xira, Tejo estuary, Portugal, October 2020]

Lateral view of a Ruddy Turnstone in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of H. Dahlem-Senger)
[Neuharlingersiel, Ostfriesland, Germany, September 2024]

Ruddy Turnstones in non-breeding plumage on "artificial rocks" (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Palhais, Barreiro, Setubal, Portugal, January 2014]

Direct comparison of Ruddy Turnstone in non-breeding plumage and a Common Ringed Plover (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Moita do Ribatejo, Setubal, Portugal, November 2018]

Frontal view of a small flock of Ruddy Turnstones in non-breeding plumage just after take-off
(photo courtesy of H. Dahlem-Senger)
[Neuharlingersiel, Ostfriesland, Germany, September 2024]

Lateral view from above of a Ruddy Turnstone in non-breeding plumage in flight (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Cabo Raso, Cascais, near Lisbon, Portugal, May 2019]

IMMATURE/JUVENILE

Near-frontal view of a juvenile Ruddy Turnstone (note the neat plumage with pale fringes), left, with an adult in worn non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Cabo Raso, Cascais, near Lisbon, Portugal, January 2021]

Near-lateral view of a foraging juvenile Ruddy Turnstone; note the pale fringes (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Salinas do Forte do Rato, Tavira, Faro, Algarve, Portugal, September 2020]

Near-lateral view of a juvenile Ruddy Turnstone (photo courtesy of D. Wilczynska)
[Canary Islands, March 2017]

Lateral view of a juvenile Ruddy Turnstone (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Alhos Vedros, Tejo estuary, Portugal, January 2020]

Lateral view of a juvenile Ruddy Turnstone clambering over rocks (photo courtesy of D. Wilczynska)
[Canary Islands, March 2017]

Behaviour

Social behaviour: Territorial

Mobility: Migratory

Elementary unit: Pair/mob

Those Ruddy Turnstones that don't migrate further south overwinter along the western European coastlines, from the North Sea and the British Isles to the western Mediterranean. Their breeding grounds are along the Scandinavian coastlines and further north, in the Arctic. To the best of our knowledge, Ruddy Turnstones usually do not form large flocks except for their long-distance migration.

Ruddy Turnstone, still in non-breeding plumage, flocking prior to departure to their breeding grounds
(photo courtesy of G. Pinelas)
[Carrasqueira, Comporta, Setubal, Portugal, April 2017]

Ruddy Turnstones, mostly still in non-breeding plumage, flocking prior to departure to their breeding grounds
(photo courtesy of G. Pinelas)
[Carrasqueira, Comporta, Setubal, Portugal, April 2017]

Lateral view of a Ruddy Turnstone in non-breeding plumage, taking a bath (photo courtesy of A. Sarok)
[Vojvodina, Serbia, date unknown]

Food, Diet

Near-frontal view of a Ruddy Turnstone in non-breeding plumage gobbling up its prey (photo courtesy of H. Dahlem-Senger)
[Neuharlingersiel, Ostfriesland, Germany, September 2024]

This Ruddy Turnstone in non-breeding plumage has found some food scraps (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Palhais, Barreiro, Setubal, Portugal, December 2014]

This Ruddy Turnstone in non-breeding plumage has found some food scraps (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Palhais, Barreiro, Setubal, Portugal, December 2014]

Ruddy Turnstones in non-breeding plumage foraging together (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Palhais, Barreiro, Setubal, Portugal, December 2014]

These pages are largely based on our own observations and those of our contributors. The structure of these bird pages is explained HERE. For more salient facts on any bird species please refer to a field guide.

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