Here are 4 galleries (links below) of photos taken in 4 different years (spanning 5) of a beautiful, but very strangely marked Ruddy Turnstone. The dates are [5/23/2009][5/14/2011][5/16-30/2012]&[5/17-27/2013]. The locations of the photos are within a 3 mile stretch of Duxbury Beach, Duxbury MA. Each year the bird often was found within 100 yards of the 2 bayside pulloffs just south of the first crossover. Despite the long odds, the likelihood that this is the same individual seems certain based on the identical physical appearance and that it has migrated to same location each year.

After my 2009 posting I received some interesting comments from knowledgeable people who were intrigued by aspects of the bird beyond the obvious leucism (abnormal white patterns) including the near-absence of black on the back/wings and most especially the legs (black not orange). No solid documented explanation was volunteered, however, for the black legs or the back. Detailed comments accompany the many photos in the 2009 an 2011 galleries which include flight shots showing wing and tail patterns. The 2012 photos were taken on 5 different days and are of varying quality due to weather conditions and distance; they are supplied just for documentation and I don't believe they show anything not seen in the 2009 and 2011 shots. The 2013 photos show him in different settings but also don't reveal anything new including any signs of aging - hence no redundant comments. Collectively they document that the Turnstone has not raced northward but has instead spent at least 2 weeks resting - and apparently fattening up a bit!

The bird is fascinating for its appearance alone, but its migratory behavior makes it even more intriguing. The fact that it has showed up 4 years out of 5 in essentially the same place (within 3 miles along the eastern edge of Duxbury Bay, Duxbury, MA) and within a 14 day period seems highly unsusual - though not illogical. It also seems unusal for an individual spring migrant to have remained in the same spot for 14 days (2012) and 10 days (2013)when it appears the bulk of its species appear to pass through quite quickly (populations surge for a couple of days at time with large groups obviously leaving). Luke doesn't seem to want to stay longer than a good number of the others whose actions suggests travelers passing through, briefly resting, rather than groups settling in to fatten themselves up for the next leg of their journey.

Studying the Ruddy Turnstone's spring migration patterns is a high research priority according to Cornell's Birds of North America Online which specifically mentions documenting its stopping off areas. If a banding station banded a bird and and was lucky enough to randomly recapture the same bird (assuming it was a migrant en route and not a summer or wintering "local") not once but twice in the same place over a 5 year period I suspect it would be quite an unusual occurrence (though I gather focused researchers such as those banding Knots (et al) in Delaware do have a documented similar experience from time to time).

Hopefully these digital images will serve as a useful surrogate for formal banding/recapture data. As background, Duxbury Beach each spring, usually in mid to late May, gets a burst/fallout of Ruddy Turnstones totalling between 200-400 on a given day (usually in flocks of 10-50)- numbers of birds that that are almost literally here today & gone tomorrow. That said, this bird was present for 14 and days respectively in 2012 1n 2013. One wonders if this is a unique behavior of this bird - or perhaps Turnstones vary in the time they take heading north. Certainly this individual is different physically from other Turnstones; perhaps its migratory behavior is also atypical.

Continuing points of curiosity for me: (1) whether Ruddy Turnstones are known to return to the same nesting spot like the Ipswich Sparrows that winter here (called philotrapy or "natal homing") [According to Cornell's BONA, Turnstones return to the same spot for the winter], (2) what this bird looks like when it molts into winter/basic plumage (does it look "normal" except for the leg color?), (3) whether it breeds with "normal" Turnstones and what their offspring might look like, (4) what its life expectancy might be, and of course (5) whether I'll see it again next year!