Ruddy Turnstone

Arenaria interpres

The Ruddy Turnstone is a champion flyer, traveling thousands of miles south for the winter from their breeding grounds in the High Arctic and visiting Rhode Island during this time. A round, plump bird, with brown, black-and-white feathers that give it a calico cat like coloring during the breeding season, this fades to a mousier brown for nonbreeding birds. A small flock was resting on a rock in the water close to shore, along the walking path in Colt State Park, on a surprisingly warm day in early March in the company of Sanderlings.