Surfbird

About the Surfbird

The surfbird (Calidris virgata) is a small stocky wader in the family Scolopacidae. It was once considered to be allied to the turnstones, and placed in the monotypic genus Aphriza, but is now placed in the genus Calidris. This bird has a short dark bill, yellow legs and a black band at the end of the white rump. In breeding plumage, it has dark streaks on the brownish head and breast with dark spots on its white underparts; the upperparts are dark with flax or sometimes rust colouring on the wings. Birds in winter plumage and immature birds are mainly grey on the upperparts and breast and white on the underparts with streaking. Their breeding habitat is rocky tundra areas in Alaska and the Yukon. The female lays 4 eggs in a depression on the ground lined with vegetation.

Source: Wikipedia

Classification

Scientific name

Calidris virgata

Family

Sandpipers and Allies

Order

Charadriiformes

Similar species

Other members of the sandpipers and allies family recorded in North America — a useful place to start if you are not certain of your identification.

• American Woodcock Scolopax minor
• Baird's Sandpiper Calidris bairdii
• Bar-tailed Godwit Limosa lapponica
• Black Turnstone Arenaria melanocephala
• Black-tailed Godwit Limosa limosa
• Bristle-thighed Curlew Numenius tahitiensis
• Broad-billed Sandpiper Calidris falcinellus
• Buff-breasted Sandpiper Calidris subruficollis
• Common Greenshank Tringa nebularia
• Common Redshank Tringa totanus
• Common Sandpiper Actitis hypoleucos
• Common Snipe Gallinago gallinago