The Black Turnstone 
THE CRASH 
Photo by Dickey 
BLACK TURNSTONES AT CORONADO BEACH 
No. 263 
Black Turnstone 
A. O. U. No. 284. Arenaria melanocephala (Vigors). 
Synonym.— Black-headed Turnstone. 
Description. —Adult in summer: Color-pattern of plumage somewhat as in 
preceding, but without chestnut; whole head, neck, upper back, and breast brownish 
black, varied by sooty centers of feathers, glossed with greenish on crown and back, 
shading by white tips of feathers on breast into white of underparts; a white loral 
spot and some speckling of white on forehead, and on sides of head, neck and breast; 
lower back, rump, and upper tail-coverts white, the last-named with included central 
patch of black; wings and tail as in A. i. morinella. Adults in winter: Similar, but 
head, chest, and neck uniform sooty black. Immature: Like adult in winter, but 
head grayer and back with buffy edgings. Measurements (av. of 10 specimens from 
Alaska): length 242 (9.53); wing 146 (5.75); tail 63.9 (2.52); bill 23.1 (.91); tarsus 27 
(1.06). 
Recognition Marks. —Towhee to robin size; absence of rufous, with foreparts 
chiefly black, distinctive in summer; but requires careful discrimination from Surf- 
bird (Aphriza virgata), whose foreparts are chiefly dusky in winter plumage. 
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