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Ruff

Ruff
Two male Ruff in breeding plumage each with prominent neck feathers, white underparts, and flanks blotched with black. One has a white neck collar of feathers and the other has a colour that is almost entirely very dark brown.
Males in breeding plumage in the Netherlands
Ruff female RWD.jpg
Breeding female
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Scolopacidae
Genus: Philomachus
Merrem, 1804
Species: P. pugnax
Binomial name
Philomachus pugnax
(Linnaeus, 1758)
Generally Ruffs migrate north and breed in the northern hemisphere from about May to August, and generally at the end of the breeding season they migrate south and spend several months the Sub-Tropics before migrating north again
Range of P. pugnax      Breeding summer visitor     Present all year     Non-breeding range
Synonyms

Calidris pugnax


Calidris pugnax

The ruff (Philomachus pugnax) is a medium-sized wading bird that breeds in marshes and wet meadows across northern Eurasia. This highly gregarious sandpiper is migratory and sometimes forms huge flocks in its winter grounds, which include southern and western Europe, Africa, southern Asia and Australia. It is usually considered to be the only member of its genus, and the broad-billed and sharp-tailed sandpipers are its closest relatives.

The ruff is a long-necked, pot-bellied bird. This species shows marked sexual dimorphism; the male is much larger than the female (the reeve), and has a breeding plumage that includes brightly coloured head tufts, bare orange facial skin, extensive black on the breast, and the large collar of ornamental feathers that inspired this bird's English name. The female and the non-breeding male have grey-brown upperparts and mainly white underparts. Three differently plumaged types of male, including a rare form that mimics the female, use a variety of strategies to obtain mating opportunities at a lek, and the colourful head and neck feathers are erected as part of the elaborate main courting display. The female has one brood per year and lays four eggs in a well-hidden ground nest, incubating the eggs and rearing the chicks, which are mobile soon after hatching, on her own. Predators of wader chicks and eggs include mammals such as foxes, feral cats and stoats, and birds such as large gulls, corvids and skuas.


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