This stocky, medium-sized shorebird is a denizen of Oregon's rocky shoreline, foraging as close to the crashing waves as possible, hence its name.

It uses the rocky intertidal zone which includes jetties, offshore rocks and rocky shorelines, sea stacks, and tidal pools and is occasionally found on sandy beaches interspersed with groups of rocks, and on mudflats near the mouth of the Coquille River. It sometimes uses freshwater outfalls for bathing.

Birds wintering in Oregon have the upperparts, head, neck, and breast slate gray with a whitish eye-ring. Indistinct supercilium and chin are white, wheres the belly and abdomen are whit with dark brown streakings. Legs are short and yellow, while the plover-like bill, well adapted for plucking off young barnacles, mussels, and snails, is brown with an orange base.

It is a fairly common migrant along the coast during fall and spring with large numbers resident during the winter months.

Hear the call of the Surfbird

Photo by ©Keith Kohl, ODFW