First Occurrence of Black Turnstone in Arizona

Notes | By Mark Stevenson

Away from the Salton Sea, the Black Turnstone is an accidental vagrant in the interior west, not surprising given its coastal distribution and that it breeds on coastal tundra in western Alaska rather than across the northern coast of Alaska and Canada. Its winter range extends along the rocky Pacific Coast from northern Mexico to southeastern Alaska. On 2 June 2005, for the first time, this species was documented at ”Cochise Lake,” in Willcox, Cochise County.

Black turnstone
Black turnstone, photo by Mark Stevenson.