Description
It is 22-25 centimeters long and weighs 100-170 grams. The black bill is 20-27 millimeters long and slightly upturned. The legs and feet are blackish-brown with a reddish tinge. The bird is largely black and white in appearance. Breeding-plumaged adults have a black head and breast apart from a white spot between the eye and bill, a white stripe over the eye and white flecks on the sides of the breast. The upperparts are blackish-brown with pale fringes to the wing-coverts and scapular feathers. The belly and vent are white. In flight it shows a white wingbar, white shoulder patch and white tail with a broad black band across it. There is white from the lower back to the uppertail-coverts apart from a dark bar across the rump.
In winter the head and breast become largely dark brown with little white. Juveniles are similar to winter adults but browner with buff fringes to the wing-coverts and scapulars and a grey-brown tip to the tail.
The Ruddy Turnstone is similar but has rufous-brown markings on the upperparts and more white on the head and breast, particularly in breeding plumage. It has narrower wings and a narrower white wingbar. Its legs are orange and brighter than those of the Black Turnstone though there can be some overlap.
The Black Turnstone has a variety of calls, especially a rattling trill which can be heard throughout the year. This call is higher and less harsh than the similar call of the Ruddy Turnstone. Other calls include a loud, screeching alarm call and a soft, purring call uttered to young chicks. Displaying males produce a long series of staccato notes in flight as well as chirruping trills on the ground.
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