Oh goodness, you're right! For some reason I had the erroneous thought that turnstones wouldn't fly in flocks like that, but now that you mention it, I know that they surely do. And, indeed, black turnstones are equally likely on a Seattle breakwater! Thank you for your note. In fact, if the dark backs were visible this far away, they were likely turnstones indeed. Thank you, Janine!

Joshua

> On Dec 21, 2015, at 10:16 AM, Janine Anderson <janine at anderson-design.net> wrote:
>
> What about Black Turnstone?
>
> Janine Anderson, CPH
> Anderson LeLievre Landscape Design
> 206 618 6054
> www.anderson-design.net
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: tweeters-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu
> [mailto:tweeters-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Joshua
> Glant
> Sent: Monday, December 21, 2015 9:21 AM
> To: helen.gilbert at juno.com
> Cc: Tweeters
> Subject: Re: [Tweeters] Shorebird flock ID
>
> Good morning Helen,
>
> In King County, the two most likely shorebird species to find on breakwaters
> are Dunlin or Sanderling, and your birds were almost definitely one or both
> of those species. Once at Alki, I saw one dunlin with fifty sanderlings!
>> From this distance, I'm not sure what tips to offer in terms of ID, except
> that Dunlin in my experience have a slightly darker and almost more
> "purplish" shade of gray.
>
> Good birding, Joshua Glant
>
> Mercer Island, WA
>
> Josh(dot)n(dot)glant(at)gmail(dot)com
>
>>> On Dec 21, 2015, at 8:47 AM, "helen.gilbert at juno.com"
>> <helen.gilbert at juno.com> wrote:
>>
>> Hi - Any guesses on the identity of a large flock of shorebirds -- perhaps
> 200 -- on the rock breakwater outside Shilshole Marina? Henry Noble and I
> saw them from the Daybreak Star Center lookout yesterday. But they were so
> far that even with the scope we could only see that they had dark backs and
> white fronts that flashed when they flew back and forth in a tight
> formation, then landed again on the rocks. There was nothing to give us a
> sense of size.
>>
>> Helen Gilbert
>> Seattle
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