Date: 4/6/24 7:14 am From: Gregory Hanisek via CTBirds <ctbirds...> Subject: [CT Birds] more on Ruffs (and Reeve)
I did my weekly newspaper column this week on the Ruff at Stratford. I've
copied it here:
Rare birds fit a variety of profiles.
A key feature is distance. Birds are most likely to appear far from their
native haunts if they travel long distances on migration. Once off on an
extended journey, a bird can be influenced by weather, navigational issues
and other factors that result in it ending up far from its expected
destination.
Names alone tell the story. Pacific loons, California gulls and even South
Polar skuas find their way to New England and the Middle Atlantic states.
In Connecticut birders are always on the alert for rarities known
collectively as “Palearctic shorebirds.” These are sandpipers and plovers
that nest in the high latitudes of Europe and Asia, and when things go
right migrate long distances to Africa, Southeast Asia and even Australia.
When things go wrong, some of them – such as red-necked stints and curlew
sandpipers – end up in Connecticut.
Such a visitor ended up in Stratford over Easter weekend, a hefty and
interesting sandpiper known simply as a ruff. This is a name acquired long
ago in Britain, when folks with a less expansive view of the world than we
now enjoy, employed simple names for “their” birds – swallow, jay etc.
However, because of the striking differences between males and females,
they gave a separate name to the female ruff – reeve. This terminology is
still used informally, but the official name is ruff. The bird still in
Connecticut at the end of this week is a female-type (immature males can
look similar) but everyone is using its official name.
I used the term interesting above. It's well chosen, because the males are
highly variable in color forms and support gaudy neck plumes (hence the
name ruff) used in a striking group mating action known as leking. Males
gather in open areas (leks) in competitive displays designed to attract
their audience of females.
To add to the fascinating nature of this behavior, it's somewhat recently
been learned that some males maintain female-like plumage and sneak in to
mate with females while the typical males are otherwise engaged and paying
no attention.
Ruffs are quite rare, but when I lived in New Jersey there was a brief
period in the 19802 when multiple birds showed up every spring in a small
area near the Delaware Bay shore. It was so unusual that some
ornithologists posited that there must be an undiscovered breeding
population somewhere, maybe in northeastern Canada.
Then this phenomenon ended as quickly as it started, and ruffs resumed
their status as infrequent and much anticipated visitors.
Greg Hanisek
Waterbury
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