page_title: Surfbird
section_title: Distribution and habitat
hierarchical_section_title: Surfbird / Distribution and habitat
caption_attribution_description: 307 - SURFBIRD Calidris virgata (3-24-09) northpoint, slo co, ca (1)
context_page_description: The surfbird 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 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. Both parents look after the young birds, who feed themselves.
  These birds migrate to the Pacific coasts of North and South America, from southern Alaska to Tierra del Fuego.
  On the nesting grounds, these birds mainly eat insects and some seeds. At other times of year, they eat mollusks and crustaceans found along the surf line on rocky coasts and are usually found in small flocks, often with turnstones.
  The song is a whistled tee tee tee.
context_section_description: The surfbird has the longest and narrowest non-breeding distribution of any North American bird, being found from Kodiak Island in Alaska to the Straits of Magellan at the southern tip of South America. Along that range it is rarely found more than a few meters from the shore. During the breeding season it is found on the mountains of Alaska and the western Yukon, from 150–1,800 m (490–5,910 ft).
  The surfbird starts leaving its breeding grounds from July (the last leaving in October), and begins reaching its main wintering grounds in Chile and Peru in mid August. On its return migration it begins to leave South America in early March. Some birds remain on the wintering grounds year-round. Vagrant birds have been seen in the Falkland Islands, Florida, and Texas. The migration routes are almost entirely coastal, a very small number of birds have been seen inland during migration.
  Its breeding habitat is alpine tundra, preferably rocky ridges dominated by scree, rock fields, lichens, dwarf shrubs and Dryas (mountain avens), and less commonly in tundra with mosses and sedges. It is generally found away from suitable habitat that is close to forest. In the non breeding season, it is a rocky shore specialist, feeding on rocky shores, reefs, and ledges on the coast. It will feed from the spray zone on the water's edge to just above the tide line. In some circumstances, it will feed on sandy beaches and mudflats near rocky areas.
caption: Non-breeding surfbirds feed in the spray zone of rocky shores.
exif: {"Image Make": "PENTAX Corporation", "Image Model": "PENTAX K10D", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop Elements 6.0 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2013:06:19 06:43:55", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 51, 48, 48, 0, 0, 0, 33, 0, 1, 0, 22, ... ]", "Image ExifOffset": "612", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1166", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "7027", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/1000", "EXIF FNumber": "0", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Aperture Priority", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "800", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2009:03:25 14:11:49", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2009:03:25 14:11:49", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MeteringMode": "CenterWeightedAverage", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "0", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3872", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2592", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "1040", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "0", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Contrast": "Soft", "EXIF Saturation": "Hard", "EXIF Sharpness": "Hard", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}