Ruff Philomachus pugnax

Identification Tips:

• Length: 10 inches
• Medium-sized shorebird
• Slightly decurved short bill
• White patches on sides of dark rump
• Rare but regular stray to North America

Adult male alternate

• Extremely variable plumage
• Brightly colored ruffs on head (black, white, brown, orange, etc)
• Brightly colored mantle
• Black belly (often)
• Dark bill often has orange base, sometimes entirely orange
• Orange legs

Adult female alternate

• Often called "Reeve"
• Brown head
• Black mantle with pale feather edges and internal markings, variable
• Dark barring on brown breast
• White belly and undertail coverts
• Dark bill often has orange base
• Orange legs

Adult basic

• Dull gray upperparts with paler feather edges
• White belly
• Yellowish legs

Juvenile

• Buffy head and breast
• Dark mantle with buffy feather edges
• Dark bill with somewhat paler base
• Yellowish legs

Similar species:

The Ruff is larger, browner, and shorter-billed than many shorebirds. In breeding plumage, the male is diagnostic. Molting males often have orange-based bills and dark splotches on the underparts. Females are somewhat similar to Pectoral Sandpipers but lack the clean breast demarcation and the pale supercilium. Buff-breasted Sandpipers are smaller than juvenile Ruffs and lack a white belly.

Length and wingspan from: Robbins, C.S., Bruun, B., Zim, H.S., (1966). Birds of North America. New York: Western Publishing Company, Inc.