Surfbird, Aphriza
virgata
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![]() The Surfbird as it appears in winter along the rocky shores of the Pacific Ocean. |
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![]() Above, early in Fall migration at the end of July, molting out of breeding plumage; below, in mid-May, molting into it. The bird below shows the beginnings of the rufous scapulars of breeding plumage, the one above has lost these feathers. In full breeding plumage, the face is mostly white, and the rufous more extensive than shown below. Surfbirds nest along mountain streams and lakes in the interior of Alaska and the Yukon, a habitat resistant to human access; they winter on rocky shores over virtually the entire Pacific coast of the Western Hemisphere, from southern Alaska to Tierra del Fuego at the tip of South America. Their distribution overlaps considerably with that of the Wandering Tattler. |
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![]() Above, and below to the bottom of the page, more Surfbirds in non-breeding plumage. |
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![]() With a big Whimbrel ... |
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![]() ... and a little Black Turnstone. |