16 thoughts on “Ruddy Turnstone (Arenaria interpres)”
Italian wintering population 2011-2020, mean 258 inds, 90% at the top 10 wetlands, TRIM: uncertain (vs. 1993-2020, strong increase). Near-absent in the 90ies, when occurring only in the South & islands, sharp increase in 2002-2006 when the N Adriatic tidal area has been colonised. May have locally benefited from current trend toward milder winters.
In Sweden the Ruddy Turnstone Arenaria interpres breed on seashore and coastal meadows. The breeding population has declined the past 30 years, and is well covered by recent censuses (cited from Ottosson et al 2012. Faglarna i Sverige – antal och förekomst).
On Gotland and Öland (i.e. large Swedish islands in the Baltic Sea), which previously have hosted a considerable part of the Swedish breeding population, the breeding population has declined by more than 80 % during the period 2003-2018 (from Ottvall et al. 2019. Strandangsfaglar – Rapport från Gemensamt delprogram tackande perioden 1988–2018).
Riegen and Sagar (2020) [Ref: Riegen, A.C. and Sagar, P.M. 2020. Distribution and numbers of waders in New Zealand, 2005-2019. Notornis 67: 591-634] recorded a 61% decline in the number of Ruddy Turnstones recorded in national wader counts throughout New Zealand compared with the period 1983-1994 (average of 24 years). This supports the significant declines noted since the early 1980s. However, a word of caution is that each year some key sites were missed, especially in the second period of counting, and so the actual decline in New Zealand is real but is likely to be lower than it appears. In the last 15 years (2008-2022 inclusive) numbers have stabilised (Birds NZ website data: https://www.birdsnz.org.nz/schemes/national-wader-count/), though with high year to year variation, some of which is due to incomplete nationwide counting.
Given that Bart et al’s estimate for only the Canadian breeding population is 970,000, and their minimum estimate is 650,000, it seems disingenuous to give the global minimum population as 500,000. 750,000 or 1,000,000 would seem to be better rounded estimates for the global minimum, allowing for the European breeding populations and those in Alaska, Greenland (and Russia?).
Excerpt from:
2024 Summer Coastal Shorebird Counts.
Jeff Campbell. Friends of Shorebirds SE.
The 2024 summer Population Monitoring Counts (Shorebird Counts) were carried out on 14 February 2024 . These counts covered the coastline from Carpenter Rocks to Nene Valley East (Carpenter Rocks count area) and Port MacDonnell to Green Point (Port MacDonnell count area)(Figure 12). Each of these count areas consist of approximately 20 kilometres of coastline, comprised of sandy beaches, limestone bluffs, rock flats and pebble beaches. By far the majority of beaches are fronted by shallow limestone reefs and substrate or low sandy bars (Short 2006).
Since 2001 the same methodology has been used for the biannual Australasian Wader Studies Group/Shorebirds 2020 Population Monitoring Program (PMP) shorebird counts at two sites in the lower south east of South Australia. The sites are Port MacDonnell and Carpenter Rocks , and the same subsites in these two sites have been surveyed on each occasion.
Ruddy Turnstone Arenaria interpres
Totals for the summer counts, site areas combined, have undergone a large and continuing decrease (Figure 3). This is also the case for both count areas when separated. Counts of numbers of international importance for this species have not been made in the Port MacDonnell area in only 2001, 2002 and 2004 and in the Carpenter Rocks area in 2001, 2003, 2004 and 2014 (Tables 1&2), however counts of national important numbers have been achieved in most years for both areas. Listed as Rare under the South Australian National Parks and Wildlife Act.
Figure 3. Ruddy Turnstone. 2001 – 2004. Series 1: Port MacDonnell. y = -11.008x + 319.68. R2 = 0.4754. Series 2: Carpenter Rocks.
y = -11.383x + 343.13. R2 = 0.4581.
Standardised migration counts from Hanko Bird Observatory, SW Finland suggest strong long-term decline 1979-1999 -> 2020-2022 -82% and also decline in the short term 2010-2019 -24%. The numbers at the observatory mean both local breeders and migrants to arctic breeding grounds.
We did also detect a near-significant slowing of the trend between 1993-2012 and 2012-2021, suggesting the worst of the decline might have already passed in Australia.
This uncommon sandflat preferring habitat specialist species are mostly found along the beach particularly see mouth area. It prefers saltpan area for roosting. They occur more numbers during southward passage than winter and Northward passage. Though they are widely distributed along the beaches its numbers never exceeded more than 1500 from a particular site. Along the south east coast Rameswaram Island and Islands of Gulf of Mannar are the most favoured habitats as 180 individuals were ringed during 1985-1988. Point Calimere the ringing totals during different periods 190-1992 (149), 1998-2017 (39) and 2018-2024 (2). The decline in Point Calimere is very pronounced and Gulf of Mannar Rameswaram is moderate. Considering their small numbers in limited areas of sandy beaches, and decline in long term monitoring sites it is agreeable to include Near -Threatened Category.
PRISM surveys in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska between 2002/2004 and 2019/2022 showed a decline in the point estimate (2002/2004: 2,984, SE=1,484; 2019/2022: 811, SE = 595). A similar survey in the Teshekpuk Lake Special Area in north central Alaska showed a slight decrease in number of individuals detected in 2007/2008 (17) to 2023 (15). We plan to do another year of surveys in this area before generating population estimates that can be used to evaluate population-level wide change in this location.
Many thanks to everyone who has contributed to this discussion. We greatly appreciate the time and effort invested in commenting. The window for consultation is now closed and we are unable to accept any more comments until 3 May 2024. We will now analyse and interpret all information, and we will post a preliminary decision on this species’ Red List status on this page on 3 May 2024, when discussions will re-open.
Based on available information, our preliminary proposal for the 2024 Red List would be to adopt the proposed classifications outlined in the initial forum discussion.
There is now a period for further comments until the final deadline on 13 May 2024, after which the recommended categorisations will be put forward to IUCN.
The final 2024 Red List categories will be published on the BirdLife and IUCN websites in October 2024, following further checking of information relevant to the assessments by both BirdLife and IUCN.
Italian wintering population 2011-2020, mean 258 inds, 90% at the top 10 wetlands, TRIM: uncertain (vs. 1993-2020, strong increase). Near-absent in the 90ies, when occurring only in the South & islands, sharp increase in 2002-2006 when the N Adriatic tidal area has been colonised. May have locally benefited from current trend toward milder winters.
In Sweden the Ruddy Turnstone Arenaria interpres breed on seashore and coastal meadows. The breeding population has declined the past 30 years, and is well covered by recent censuses (cited from Ottosson et al 2012. Faglarna i Sverige – antal och förekomst).
On Gotland and Öland (i.e. large Swedish islands in the Baltic Sea), which previously have hosted a considerable part of the Swedish breeding population, the breeding population has declined by more than 80 % during the period 2003-2018 (from Ottvall et al. 2019. Strandangsfaglar – Rapport från Gemensamt delprogram tackande perioden 1988–2018).
Riegen and Sagar (2020) [Ref: Riegen, A.C. and Sagar, P.M. 2020. Distribution and numbers of waders in New Zealand, 2005-2019. Notornis 67: 591-634] recorded a 61% decline in the number of Ruddy Turnstones recorded in national wader counts throughout New Zealand compared with the period 1983-1994 (average of 24 years). This supports the significant declines noted since the early 1980s. However, a word of caution is that each year some key sites were missed, especially in the second period of counting, and so the actual decline in New Zealand is real but is likely to be lower than it appears. In the last 15 years (2008-2022 inclusive) numbers have stabilised (Birds NZ website data: https://www.birdsnz.org.nz/schemes/national-wader-count/), though with high year to year variation, some of which is due to incomplete nationwide counting.
Given that Bart et al’s estimate for only the Canadian breeding population is 970,000, and their minimum estimate is 650,000, it seems disingenuous to give the global minimum population as 500,000. 750,000 or 1,000,000 would seem to be better rounded estimates for the global minimum, allowing for the European breeding populations and those in Alaska, Greenland (and Russia?).
Declined elsewhere in Chukotka breeding grounds, probably expect for the Wrangel Island (see summary in Tomkovich 2022).
Ref:
Tomkovich P.S. 2022. Ruddy Turnstone Arenaria interpress. In: Kondratiev A.V. & Litovka D.I. (eds) Red Data Book of Chukotskiy Autonomous Okrug. V1 Animals (official publication). Textotel Publ. House, Nizhniy Novgorod: 110-111
Trend analysis for the Pacific and SE Asian population is available here: https://iwc-wi.shinyapps.io/eaaf_trends/
Excerpt from:
2024 Summer Coastal Shorebird Counts.
Jeff Campbell. Friends of Shorebirds SE.
The 2024 summer Population Monitoring Counts (Shorebird Counts) were carried out on 14 February 2024 . These counts covered the coastline from Carpenter Rocks to Nene Valley East (Carpenter Rocks count area) and Port MacDonnell to Green Point (Port MacDonnell count area)(Figure 12). Each of these count areas consist of approximately 20 kilometres of coastline, comprised of sandy beaches, limestone bluffs, rock flats and pebble beaches. By far the majority of beaches are fronted by shallow limestone reefs and substrate or low sandy bars (Short 2006).
Since 2001 the same methodology has been used for the biannual Australasian Wader Studies Group/Shorebirds 2020 Population Monitoring Program (PMP) shorebird counts at two sites in the lower south east of South Australia. The sites are Port MacDonnell and Carpenter Rocks , and the same subsites in these two sites have been surveyed on each occasion.
Ruddy Turnstone Arenaria interpres
Totals for the summer counts, site areas combined, have undergone a large and continuing decrease (Figure 3). This is also the case for both count areas when separated. Counts of numbers of international importance for this species have not been made in the Port MacDonnell area in only 2001, 2002 and 2004 and in the Carpenter Rocks area in 2001, 2003, 2004 and 2014 (Tables 1&2), however counts of national important numbers have been achieved in most years for both areas. Listed as Rare under the South Australian National Parks and Wildlife Act.
Figure 3. Ruddy Turnstone. 2001 – 2004. Series 1: Port MacDonnell. y = -11.008x + 319.68. R2 = 0.4754. Series 2: Carpenter Rocks.
y = -11.383x + 343.13. R2 = 0.4581.
Standardised migration counts from Hanko Bird Observatory, SW Finland suggest strong long-term decline 1979-1999 -> 2020-2022 -82% and also decline in the short term 2010-2019 -24%. The numbers at the observatory mean both local breeders and migrants to arctic breeding grounds.
https://haahka.laji.fi/?_inputs_&language=%22en%22&tabs=%22species%22&species=%22Arenaria%20interpres%22
Slight correction to the assessment text: In the Rogers et al report, we estimated the trend over three generations at -26.11% (95CI -53.57, 21.81). See https://www.nespmarinecoastal.edu.au/publication/australias-migratory-shorebirds-trends-and-prospects/
We did also detect a near-significant slowing of the trend between 1993-2012 and 2012-2021, suggesting the worst of the decline might have already passed in Australia.
Please refer to the listing assessment published by the Australian Government – https://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/threatened/species/pubs/872-conservation-advice-05012024.pdf
CBC trends not referenced for North America.
https://audubon.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=90a19cde26c44ad8808190219e79fd4e
Christmas Bird Count trends for North America:
https://arcg.is/0TiKH1
In India, while the long-term trend is uncertain, the trend from 2015 till 2022 indicate a rapid decline as per State of India’s Birds
https://stateofindiasbirds.in/species/rudtur/
-7.33 (-9.15, -5.51) – with 95% CI in the brackets
https://stateofindiasbirds.in/wp-content/uploads/2024/trends/originals/Ruddy-Turnstone_in_CAT_trend.png
Like in the case of Grey Plover, most coastal species in India are declining, probably impacted by similar reasons.
This uncommon sandflat preferring habitat specialist species are mostly found along the beach particularly see mouth area. It prefers saltpan area for roosting. They occur more numbers during southward passage than winter and Northward passage. Though they are widely distributed along the beaches its numbers never exceeded more than 1500 from a particular site. Along the south east coast Rameswaram Island and Islands of Gulf of Mannar are the most favoured habitats as 180 individuals were ringed during 1985-1988. Point Calimere the ringing totals during different periods 190-1992 (149), 1998-2017 (39) and 2018-2024 (2). The decline in Point Calimere is very pronounced and Gulf of Mannar Rameswaram is moderate. Considering their small numbers in limited areas of sandy beaches, and decline in long term monitoring sites it is agreeable to include Near -Threatened Category.
PRISM surveys in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska between 2002/2004 and 2019/2022 showed a decline in the point estimate (2002/2004: 2,984, SE=1,484; 2019/2022: 811, SE = 595). A similar survey in the Teshekpuk Lake Special Area in north central Alaska showed a slight decrease in number of individuals detected in 2007/2008 (17) to 2023 (15). We plan to do another year of surveys in this area before generating population estimates that can be used to evaluate population-level wide change in this location.
Many thanks to everyone who has contributed to this discussion. We greatly appreciate the time and effort invested in commenting. The window for consultation is now closed and we are unable to accept any more comments until 3 May 2024. We will now analyse and interpret all information, and we will post a preliminary decision on this species’ Red List status on this page on 3 May 2024, when discussions will re-open.
Preliminary proposal
Based on available information, our preliminary proposal for the 2024 Red List would be to adopt the proposed classifications outlined in the initial forum discussion.
There is now a period for further comments until the final deadline on 13 May 2024, after which the recommended categorisations will be put forward to IUCN.
The final 2024 Red List categories will be published on the BirdLife and IUCN websites in October 2024, following further checking of information relevant to the assessments by both BirdLife and IUCN.