Surfbird Calidris / Aphriza virgata

Surfbird Calidris virgata
(aka Aphriza virgata)

Chilean name: playero de los rompientes

Surfbird, Arica, Chile, February 2007 - click for larger image

Arica, Chile
February 2007

The Surfbird breeds in central and southern Alaska and central Yukon where it is found on rocky mountain ridges and tundra with mosses and lichens. It migrates south along the Pacific coast of the Americas to winter along the rocky coasts of Peru and Chile.

It is a stocky sandpiper with short, yellow legs and a short, thick bill with a yellow-orange base to the lower mandible. In non-breeding plumage it is greyish with a white belly and some dark spots as in photo 1. Photo 2 shows a bird moving into breeding plumage showing a couple of buff and black scapular feathers and bolder markings on the flanks.

Photo 3 shows a bird moving into breeding plumage beside a Ruddy Turnstone Arenaria interpres. In the past the Surfbird has been classified as close to the superficially similar Turnstone but it is now thought to be more closely related to the Calidris genus.

In flight note the white tail with the black terminal band and the white wing-stripe.

When breeding it feeds on insects but in its wintering grounds it feeds on barnacles and small mussels, periwinkles and limpets.

There is a distribution map on xeno-canto.

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