These brightly color shorebirds, are relatively rare for San Diego county. The distribution is on rocky open coasts such as Point Loma. Their dark coloration is a rich chocolate brown rather than black. They have brightly colored reddish-orange bills, a bright yellow eye surrounded with an orange ring. They have relatively large fleshy feet, pale in coloration with black toenails.
Their chisel like bill is used to pry open clam shells, cutting the abductor muscles and then extracting the soft contents, sometimes while the clam is still beneath the sand.