{"id":6580,"date":"2017-12-24T12:46:00","date_gmt":"2017-12-24T20:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/larryeifert.com\/?page_id=6580"},"modified":"2017-12-24T12:46:00","modified_gmt":"2017-12-24T20:46:00","slug":"2013-03","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/larryeifert.com\/wordpress\/published-writings-and-art\/salish-sea-stories-48-north-magazine\/2013-03\/","title":{"rendered":"2013 \u2013 10 Black Turnstone"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/larryeifert.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/2013-10-Black-Turnstones.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-6695\" src=\"http:\/\/larryeifert.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/2013-10-Black-Turnstones.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"983\" height=\"864\" srcset=\"https:\/\/larryeifert.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/2013-10-Black-Turnstones.jpg 983w, https:\/\/larryeifert.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/2013-10-Black-Turnstones-300x264.jpg 300w, https:\/\/larryeifert.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/2013-10-Black-Turnstones-768x675.jpg 768w, https:\/\/larryeifert.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/2013-10-Black-Turnstones-560x492.jpg 560w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 983px) 100vw, 983px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The Blacks are Back! Black Turnstones, that is. After summering in the western Alaskan arctic where they nest near coastal rivers and estuaries, Black and Ruddy Turnstones (two separate species) migrate south. These are 8\u201d shorebirds that weight about the same as 4 AA batteries, and some birds amazingly short-cut across the Gulf of Alaska on their route to wintering here in the Salish Sea and along the outer coast. While most Ruddy Turnstones head farther south, we can see the Blacks here all winter, gathered in small flocks of up to 100 birds on docks or rocky shorelines. With strong bills they forage or \u2018turn stones\u2019 as they pry off limpets or acorn barnacles.<\/p>\n<p>Dull colors contrast their more colorful counter species (the Ruddy has reddish-orange colors, while the Black is dark above with a white breast). From October to April, if you see flocks of dark birds the size of robins flying in formation around a shoreline or dock, they\u2019re likely Blacks. After circling in unison flight, listen for their loud chattering after landing as they seemingly gossip about what just happened. Then in spring they head north again, finding the exact same nest and exact same partner to produce another family of turnstones.<\/p>\n<p>Larry Eifert paints and writes about wild places. His work can be seen in many national parks across America \u2013 and at larryeifert.com.<\/p>\n<p>***previous*** &#8212; ***next***<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Blacks are Back! Black Turnstones, that is. After summering in the western Alaskan arctic where they nest near coastal rivers and estuaries, Black and Ruddy Turnstones (two separate species) migrate south. These are 8\u201d shorebirds that weight about the same as 4 AA batteries, and some birds amazingly short-cut across the Gulf of Alaska &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/larryeifert.com\/wordpress\/published-writings-and-art\/salish-sea-stories-48-north-magazine\/2013-03\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">2013 \u2013 10 Black Turnstone<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":6453,"menu_order":104,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-6580","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/larryeifert.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6580","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/larryeifert.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/larryeifert.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/larryeifert.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/larryeifert.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6580"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/larryeifert.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6580\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6696,"href":"https:\/\/larryeifert.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6580\/revisions\/6696"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/larryeifert.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/larryeifert.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6580"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}