Part 64

Winter range.--The winter range of morinella can be defined but little better as the records are frequently confused with Arenaria i. interpres, to which some of the following may refer. Their range at this season appears to extend north to California (rarely San Francisco Bay); Texas (Fort Brown, Point Isabel, Refugio County, and the Sabine River); probably Louisiana; probably North Carolina (Fort Macon); and Bermuda (Ireland Island). East to Bermuda (Ireland Island); South Carolina (Mount Pleasant, and Frogmore); Georgia (Savannah, Blackbeard Island, and Darien); Florida (Fernandina, St. Augustine, Daytona Beach, Mosquito Inlet, Cocoa, Fort Pierce, and Key West); the Bahama Islands (New Providence, and Great Inagua); Haiti (Monte Cristi, and Samana); Porto Rico (Mameyes, and Culebra Island); Lesser Antilles (Sombrero, St. Bartholomew, Carriacou, and Tobago); British Guiana (probably Abary River); French Guiana (probably Cayenne); and Brazil (Para, Cajetuba Island, Fernando Noronha, and Abrolhos Island). South to Brazil (Abrolhos Island); and Chile (Valdivia). West to Chile (Valdivia, Talcahuano, Paposo, and Atacama); Peru (probably Chorillos); the Galapagos Islands (Albemarle, Hood, Indefatigable and Bindloe Islands); Honduras (Swan Island); Guatemala (Chiapam); Mexico (the Valley of Mexico); Lower California (San Jose del Cabo, and Magdalena Bay); and California (rarely San Francisco Bay). Occasionally also, wintering as far north as Sanak, Alaska (Littlejohn).

Spring migration.--Early dates of spring arrival are: Virginia, Accomac County, May 8, Chesapeake, May 10, and Locustville, May 11; New Jersey, Ocean City, May 5, Cape May, May 6, and Long Beach, May 16; New York, Fair Haven Light, May 10, Montauk Point, May 12, and Canandaigua, May 14; Connecticut, New Haven, May 18, and Norwalk, May 19; Rhode Island, Newport, May 13, and Sachuest Point, May 14; Massachusetts, Nantucket, May 1, Woods Hole, May 5, and Monomoy Island, May 6; Maine, South Harpswell, May 20, and Portland, May 22; Nova Scotia, Pictou, May 24; Franklin, Winter Island, June 10; Illinois, Northeastern, April 30, Englewood, May 22, Chicago, May 23, and Waukegan, May 24; Indiana, Starke County, May 20, and Wolfe Lake, May 23; Ohio, Lakeside, May 11, Oberlin, May 15, Huron, May 17, and Painesville, May 28; Michigan, Detroit, May 13, Kalamazoo County, May 20, and Ann Arbor, May 25; Ontario, Toronto, May 18, Kingston, May 20, Moose Factory, May 26, and Mitchells Bay, May 31; Nebraska, Lincoln, May 18; Iowa, Burlington, May 21; Minnesota, Lake Ann, May 20, Minneapolis, May 21, and Walker, May 24; Wisconsin, Madison, May 22; South Dakota, Coteau des Prairies, May 26, and Fort Sisseton, May 27; Manitoba, Shoal Lake, May 25; Saskatchewan, Île à la Crosse, May 22, and Orestwynd, May 23; Alberta, Tofield, May 15, and Fort Chipewyan, May 25; Mackenzie, Fort Simpson, May 29; California, San Nicolas Island, April 7; Oregon, Mercer, May 14; Washington, Puget Sound, May 6, Willapa Harbor, May 11, and Shoalwater Bay, May 17; and Alaska, Unalaska, May 19, and Nulato, May 23.

Late dates of spring departures are: Peru, Mathews Island, April 24; Porto Rico, Culebrita Island, April 15; Bahama Islands, Andros, April 26, and Green Cay, April 29; Florida, Punta Rassa, May 13, St. Marks, May 22, and Daytona Beach, May 24; Georgia, Savannah, May 29; South Carolina, Egg Bank, May 14, and Mount Pleasant, June 12; North Carolina, Churchs Island, May 19, and Cape Hatteras, May 20; Virginia, Wachapreague, May 24, Hog Island, May 19, and Smiths Island, May 31; Pennsylvania, Warren, May 30, and Erie, June 2; New Jersey, Camden, May 21, and Cape May County, June 3; New York, Ithaca, June 13, Montauk Point, June 9, and Orient, June 12; Connecticut, Fairfield, May 29, Westport, May 30, and Norwalk, June 1; Massachusetts, Dennis, June 2, Marthas Vineyard, June 8, and Monomoy Island, June 8; Illinois, Chicago, June 9, Northeastern, June 18; Indiana, Wolfe Lake, June 9; Ohio, Huron, June 3, Oberlin, June 5, and Lakeside, June 5; Michigan, Detroit, June 6, and Charity Island, June 15; Ontario, Toronto, June 17; North Dakota, Devils Lake, June 11; South Dakota, Vermilion, May 30; Texas, Point Isabel, May 14; Minnesota, Cass Lake, May 30; Wisconsin, De Pere, June 3; Manitoba, Dog Point, June 7, Lake Winnipeg, June 10, and Shoal Lake, June 12; Saskatchewan, Indian Head, June 2, and Churchill River, June 9; California, Santa Barbara, May 6, Farallon Islands, May 7, and San Nicolas Island, May 11; Oregon, Mercer, May 14; and Washington, Willapa Harbor, May 16.

Fall migration.--Early dates of fall arrival are: Washington, Destruction Island, July 17; California, Monterey Bay, July 18, and Santa Barbara, July 26; Lower California, San Jose del Cabo, August 31; Oaxaca, San Mateo, August 9; Saskatchewan, Quill Lake, August 7, Bigstick Lake, August 9, and Crane Lake, August 11; Manitoba, Fort Churchill, July 30, Shoal Lake, August 7, and Oak Lake, August 8; Texas, Rockport, August 12; Ontario, Toronto, July 30, and Point Pelee, August 14; Michigan, Charity Island, August 6; Ohio, Pelee Island, July 24, Huron, August 3, and Lakeside, August 8; Indiana, Millers, August 8; Illinois, Chicago, July 20, and La Grange, August 13; Maine, Portland, July 28; Massachusetts, Marthas Vineyard, July 24, Harvard, July 26, and Monomoy Island, July 27; Rhode Island, Island of Rhode Island, July 26, and Kingston, August 11; Connecticut, Meriden, August 8; New York, Montauk Point, July 18, Orient, July 28, and Shelter Island, July 29; New Jersey, Cape May, July 16; Virginia, Cobb Island, August 1, and Locustville, August 7; North Carolina, Pea Island, August 11; Bermuda, Coopers Island, July 27; South Carolina, Mount Pleasant, July 15; Georgia, Savannah, August 18; Florida, Palma Sola, July 26, St. Marks, July 30, Pensacola, August 1, and Daytona, August 10; Bahama Islands, Mariguana, August 5; Jamaica, Spanishtown, August 13; Lesser Antilles, Barbados, August 22, and St. Croix, September 8; Peru, Payta, September 20; and Chile, Talcahuano, September 9.

Late dates of fall departure are: Alaska, St. Michael, September 8; British Columbia, Graham Island, September 5; Washington, Simiahmoo, October 3; California, Alameda, October 15; Manitoba, Oak Lake, September 9; Wisconsin, Sheboygan, September 1; Ontario, Point Pelee, September 15, and Toronto, September 16; Michigan, Bay City, September 4, and Detroit, September 5; Ohio, Huron, October 18, Lakeside, October 21, and New Bremen, October 23; Illinois, Chicago, October 13; Franklin, Harrowby Bay, August 30, Newfoundland, September 5; Nova Scotia, La Have Ridges, September 27; New Brunswick, Grand Manan, September 4, and Tabusintoc, October 23; Quebec, Green Island, October 26; Massachusetts, North Truro, October 9, Woods Hole, October 20, and (exceptional) Dennis, November 3; Rhode Island, Point Judith, September 14, and Newport, October 8; New York, Canandaigua, September 16, Brockport, October 6, and Orient, October 7.

Casual records.--The ruddy turnstone is not now common anywhere in the Mississippi Valley and has been recorded on but few occasions in the lower part of this region and in the States west to the Rocky Mountains. Among these last are, Arkansas, reported at Osceola by Doctor Richardson (Howell); Missouri, St. Louis, September 7, 1897; Kansas, Kansas River, August 16, 1898, and Greenwood County, October 1, 1911; Colorado, Denver, April 26, 1890, and May 18, 1900, and Barr, September 9, 1907; and Wyoming, Yellowstone Park, August 30, 1922.

Egg dates.--Bering Sea coast of Alaska: 10 records, May 29 to June 27. Arctic coasts of Alaska and Canada: 19 records, June 19 to August 1; 10 records, June 28 to July 21.

ARENARIA MELANOCEPHALA (Vigors)

BLACK TURNSTONE

HABITS

The black turnstone replaces to a large extent on the Pacific coast our well-known ruddy turnstone; both species are found there on migrations and in winter, but the black is the commoner on that coast, to which it is restricted. It is a characteristic bird of the barnacle-covered reefs and rocky shores, being more often seen on the outlying islands and ledges than on the mainland. There it lives at the water’s edge, seeking its food within reach of the waves and often drenched with ocean spray. As it stands motionless it is almost invisible in its coat of dark brown and might easily be mistaken for a knob of rock or a bunch of seaweed; but when startled into flight its conspicuous pattern of black and white flashes out a distinctive mark of recognition.

Spring.--The black turnstone starts on its northward migration from the coast of California early in April. Much of the flight is over the ocean, as the following observation by Austin H. Clark (1910) shows:

On the first day out of San Francisco, May 4, we saw several small flocks of these birds on their way north; each succeeding day they became more abundant until on the afternoon of May 8 we saw them by thousands, in flocks of from 10 or 20 to several hundred. At one time, about 2 o’clock in the afternoon, the whole sea appeared dotted with white, so abundant were they. All the birds noticed were headed up the coast, going the same direction as we.

In the mornings these birds were comparatively rare; they began to appear about 11 o’clock, and increased in numbers until about 2, when they were very abundant; shortly after 3 there was a falling off until by half past 4 few, if any, were to be seen. This was true every day we were at sea on the voyage from San Francisco to Puget Sound. Whether they spent the night and early morning on the neighboring shores or resting on the water I am unable to say; but all we saw were on the wing; possibly there were other shore birds in these multitudes, but all which came near the ship were of this species.

Lucien M. Turner (1886) says that this is one of the earliest arrivals at St. Michael. His earliest date is May 13. “It arrives with the earlier geese, and for the first few weeks frequents the edges of the low ponds, which are the first to be freed from the ice in spring. After the sea ice has left the shores it repairs to the rocky beach and seeks its food among the stones and seaweeds.” H. B. Conover says, in his notes from Hooper Bay: “The first of these birds were noted on May 16, when two were taken as they flew by a small snow-water pond on the tundra. Two days later this species was very common. Next to the western sandpiper it was probably the commonest, as well as the noisiest, wader nesting on the tundra.”

Courtship.--Herbert W. Brandt, who has studied this species on its breeding grounds at Hooper Bay, Alaska, says in his notes:

The black turnstones, like many of the other shore birds during the mating season, spend considerable time chasing each other about. The female seems to say to the male, “catch me if you can,” and then dashes off with such speed that the pursuer has difficulty in following her, and she usually returns to the same spot from which her zigzag flight began. Often the male will mount high into the air alone, until completely out of sight, and then will produce with his wing or tail feathers, which of the two I have not been able to determine, the same strange zum-zum-zum noise as made by the Wilson snipe. Before the nesting season this feather music could be heard on the flats at any time, and it deceived me at first, as I mistook it for that of the snipe. Later, however, as soon as the nesting duties began, it seemed to cease; and in this respect, the black turnstone differs from the Wilson snipe, because the feather music of the latter is continued throughout the incubation period.

Nesting.--The same observer describes the nesting habits as follows:

The fantastic shaped shore lines of the lowland brackish ponds furnish ideal homesites for the vivacious black turnstone as it usually chooses, upon which to nest, a little projecting grass-covered point or islet. Quite near the water’s edge the bird will hollow a depression in the flattened dead grass and here, often upon the almost bare mud with the eternal ice strata only a few inches beneath, the hardy mother will successfully bring forth a brood. Little effort is made to build a home and the only material therein is the grass that previously grew on or about the site and is flattened down into the basin of the nest. At times there is almost no lining beneath the olive-hued eggs and they are then so besmeared that they appear to have been deliberately rolled in the mud. Occasionally, however, the bird will nest some distance away from the water on a dry site, but always the mode of construction is the same. The range of measurements of 27 nests is: diameter of basin 3½ to 4½ inches and depth 1 to 2½ inches. The undecked nests are easy to find if bordering the pools, provided their general location is known, but the birds keep up such a continual clamor that it is difficult to guess their chosen area. In favored places they breed in such close proximity to one another that they appear to colonize. In no case like the other Charadriidae did I observe these birds about the nest to feign lameness or distress. Incubation spots were found on both of the parents.

Eggs.--I can not do better than to quote Mr. Brandt’s description of the eggs, as follows:

The eggs of the black turnstone, invariably four to the nest, are subpyriform to ovate pyriform in shape, and unlike the glossy egg of the ruddy turnstone, reflect but little luster. Due to the flatness of the nest, the eggs, while they usually rest points together, do not stand as erect while being brooded as eggs of the sandpipers. The texture of the surface is smooth and the eggs are not at all fragile. The eggs of the present species are unique among the eggs of the shore birds at Hooper Bay in that the ground color, the surface markings and the underlying spots are in the same category of colors which are the olive hues, but each is a different shade. The olive of the ground color is tinged with yellowish; the surface markings are much darker, favoring the browns, while the feeble underlying spots are of a shade between the two. In consequence, the spots while fairly distinctive and seldom confluent, are not prominent, the entire egg being of an olive-like cast. The common type of ground color is “light yellowish olive” to “yellowish olive,” but “buffy olive” is not rare and some are even “Vetiver green.” The small end is often several shades lighter than the rest of the egg, but in a large series of specimens the ground color is very similar. The surface markings are very constant in color, ranging from “light yellowish olive” to “olive.” These spots are angular and fantastical and often inclined to be streaked or faintly smeared and are not at all bold. They are numerous, often almost obliterating the ground color, and are densest about the larger end. The underlying spots are very shadowy and often almost invisible and are shades of “olive gray.” On the large end of every egg there are scattered additional markings of brownish black in the form of small spots and pen-like streaks. In color and style of markings the eggs of the black turnstone, when fresh, resemble a common olive type of the American crow, but even these greenish colors fade considerably in time.

The measurements of 130 eggs average 40.9 by 28.8 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure =46= by 29.5, 41 by =30.5=, =38= by 28, and 40.7 by =27.8= millimeters.

Young.--Mr. Conover says, in his notes, that “both male and female take care of the young.” He obtained some data which seems to show that the eggs hatch in from 21 to 22 days. A nest was found on May 31 with four fresh eggs; in the evening of June 21 this nest contained three young, already dry, and one pipped egg; the next morning the last egg had hatched. Another nest was found on May 31 with three eggs; the next day there were four eggs; at noon on June 22 the eggs had not hatched; but at 4 p. m. the next day the nest was empty and the young had disappeared from the vicinity.

Mr. Brandt says in his notes:

We enjoyed the pleasure of seeing the downy young for the first time on June 21, and were greatly interested in them, as they had not been described or figured. They are born from the egg 21 days after incubation begins, and the mottled chick, like other shore birds, leaves its nest at once. The downy young have a remarkably protective coloration, and, furthermore, are distinguishable from any of their relatives.

Dr. E. W. Nelson (1887) says that--

when the young are able to take wing in July they leave the flats, to a great extent, and frequent the seacoast, where they keep in small straggling parties searching for food along the tide line.

Plumages.--I have never seen a young black turnstone in natal down, but Mr. Conover describes it very well, as follows: