Bird of the Month - October 2005
Ruff
Philomachus pugnax
Continuing last month’s Bird of the Month theme, let’s take a closer look at a shorebird that occurs only rarely in the Redwood Region. The Ruff (Philomachus pugnax) is chiefly an Old World species, named for the spectacular neck feathering and head tufts worn by the breeding male in spring and summer. The sexual dimorphism exhibited by Ruffs is pronounced, with the males not only about one-quarter larger than females, but more colorful. The striking alternate (breeding) plumage of the males is strongly patterned with barred and variegated feathers, and individual ruffs-and-tufts vary from black to red to nearly white. Gathering at traditional courtship sites (“leks”) scattered from Britain eastward through Siberia, male Ruffs display to assembled females—in Europe, known as Reeves. Females lay 4 eggs that are incubated for 20-23 days. The young fly at 25-28 days of age.
After breeding or fledging, most of the world’s Ruffs fly south to winter around the Mediterranean Sea and the Persian Gulf and in Africa, India, and southeast Asia. Like some other long-range migrants from the Eastern Hemisphere, this species is seen in small numbers in North America. Autumn occurrences tend strongly toward either the Pacific or Atlantic coast, as might be expected of shorebirds crossing or following the shorelines of those ocean basins. In spring, however, some Ruffs are detected in the interior of the continent, as in the upper Midwest and in the Prairie Provinces; this indicates that such birds wintered somewhere in the New World. Some suspect that undiscovered New World breeding sites exist. Although unrecorded in California until 1961, the Ruff has now been found many times, and it is certainly a species worth looking for. Perhaps related to greater birder expertise and better bird books, reports increased along the West Coast in the 1970s and ‘80s. These birds may show up as early as mid-July but are most often seen in August and September. Exceptionally, one or two Ruffs spend the winter in California, usually among dowitchers or yellowlegs at estuarine mudflats and lagoons or in managed wetlands of the San Joaquin Valley.
Ruffs that are in plumages other than that of the breeding male are fairly nondescript, and they are easily overlooked by birders who are not aware of the possibility of their occurrence. Most, though not all, are juveniles. These birds are warm brown, rather scaly-looking owing to pale feather edges, about the size of a Greater Yellowlegs (male) or just slightly larger than a dowitcher (female), with a vaguely squat, thin-necked, and small-headed appearance. Legs are dull yellow, the bill of medium length and very slightly drooped. Ruffs often wander about within a mixed-species flock as if following their own inscrutable program. The sum of this build and behavior is a shorebird that somehow suggests a cross between a Virginia Rail and a rubber chicken! To make sure, study it closely, check a couple of field guides, and photograph it if you can.