Ruddy Turnstone in breeding colors

[PhotoLover]

I'd seen these before, this was the first time I'd seen them with their breeding colors.

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[Callie]

He's beautiful!

 

[Woody Meristem]

Very good photo of a beautiful bird.

 

[PhotoLover]

Very good photo of a beautiful bird.

Thanks. They are pretty birds anytime, but the breeding colors are quite nice. I wonder when they lose those colors? Since they breed up in the High Arctic, this one had flown several thousand miles to be where I was after breeding.

 

[Woody Meristem]

Thanks. They are pretty birds anytime, but the breeding colors are quite nice. I wonder when they lose those colors? Since they breed up in the High Arctic, this one had flown several thousand miles to be where I was after breeding.

Back in the olden days when I spent quite a bit of time along the ocean's shore they'd lost their breeding plumage before we saw them during fall migration which began in late July/early August; we saw a few of them during the winter in rocky areas.

 

[PhotoLover]

Back in the olden days when I spent quite a bit of time along the ocean's shore they'd lost their breeding plumage before we saw them during fall migration which began in late July/early August; we saw a few of them during the winter in rocky areas.

I woke up this morning and remembered (duh) that this is spring. The bird is on its way, or soon will be, to its Arctic breeding grounds. Spring or fall, the ones I've seen before on the southern US coast have never been in breeding colors.