Surfbird, Aphriza
virgata
The Surfbird as it appears in winter along the rocky shores of the Pacific Ocean.
The rest of the birds pictured on this page are in non-breeding plumage; the one shown above, early in Fall migration at the end of July in the harbor of Half Moon Bay, California, still retains part of its breeding plumage; full breeding plumage includes rusty colored scapulars, molted out on this bird. Surfbirds nest on mountains and hills in the interior of Alaska and the Yukon, and they winter on rocky shores over virtually the entire Pacific coast of the Western Hemisphere, from southern Alaska to Tierra del Fuego at the tip of South America.
With a big Whimbrel ...
... and a little Black Turnstone.