Ruddy Turnstone — Arenaria interpres

Abstract

The Turnstone breeds in coastal areas throughout the Holarctic, in climate zones ranging from the temperate regions in the Baltic to the high arctic of Canada (Fig. 111). It is a polytypic species, in which often 2 and sometimes 3 subspecies are distinguished (Dement’ev et al. 1969, Glutz et al. 1977, Prater et al. 1977; Cramp & Simmons 1983; Godfrey 1986; Stepanyan 1990; Paulson 1993, Gibson & Kessel 1997):

• A. i. interpres, breeding on Axel Heiberg Island, Ellesmere Island (high arctic Canada), Greenland, and in N Eurasia east to the Taymyr Peninsula;

• A. i. oahuensis, breeding in the E Palearctic from Taymyr east to Alaska (Point Barrow). Nominate interpres and oahuensis intergrade on Taymyr.

• A. i. morinella is breeding in the Canadian low Arctic below 74 ^°N and along the Alaskan coast of the Beaufort Sea.