Friday 21 April 2017

It's a Ruff Life

Today I was able to finish up my work early and decided to try for the awesome bird that Jarmo Jalava found up in the Grey-Bruce area yesterday.  The bird is a 'Ruff', a European species that winters mostly in Africa and breeds in Scandinavia and northern Asia.  Although a very rare vagrant, wayward individuals do show up each year in Ontario.  As I had not had the opportunity to see this species before, I made the 1.5hr drive from Fergus this afternoon.  Lucky for me, the bird decided to stick around!  Below are a few photos I snapped with the new camera.


The bird on the left is the Ruff.  It is a male, hence why it has the ridiculous showy feathers!



The Ruff was really entertaining as it chased the other Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs and the Pectoral Sandpipers.

At one point it even took to flight to chase away this Pectoral Sandpiper!

Eyeing up the next target!



This bird was well worth the drive!  Such an exciting bird to see!

3 comments:

  1. That is the nicest looking Ruff I have seen (pictured). It has been a while since I have seen a Ruff, but maybe one will show near home soon.

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  2. Thanks Blake! It was a pretty awesome bird to see and a first for me!

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  3. Nice, glad your impulse decision paid off!

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