A close relative of the widespread Ruddy Turnstone, the Black Turnstone is another Western North American endemic with most of the population breeding at the Yukon River Delta in Alaska and wintering on rocky shores along the West Coast from Alaska to Baja. Like the Surfbird, it avoids Asia except as a rare stray.
Here in the San Francisco Bay Area, the Black Turnstone is a migrant and winter visitor where it often associates in mixed flocks with Surfbirds.
The chisel-shaped bill is supposed to be for turning over pebbles, but I rarely see this species foraging that way. Instead they probe in washed up kelp, turning over kelp floats or peck at limpets and extract them from their shells.
Like the other shorebirds in this series, this individual is an adult in the process of molting from breeding (alternate) to winter (basic) plumage. You can see some of the older more worn feathers contrasting with fresh new black ones.
Field guides often portray this species with dark legs. As this photo shows, the legs may appear pink. Leg color varies seasonally and with the light.
Digiscoped with Panasonic DMC-LZ5 | Nikon FieldScope 3 | 30X WA | hand-held (no adapter)