Ruff, Philomachus pugnax
Ruffs breed in northern Eurasia, where males display spectacular breeding plumage to attract females on communal leks. They mostly winter in India and sub-Saharan Africa. A fair number of migrants each year reach North America, and we see a few almost every Fall in the Bay Area. This adult male shows the bright orange (or pink) legs, and the gray-brown upper feathers with dark centers typical of adults in non-breeding plumage. Below, this male is much larger than a dowitcher, which is about the size of a female Ruff would; this species has the largest sex difference in size of any shorebird. The bird's shape, a plump body with long neck and small head, is distinctive; the feathers are often loosely fluffed as above.
My only picture of a Ruff in flight, the same male as above, with two dowitchers; note the Ruff's longer legs.
The lack of color in the upperparts plumage show this bird to be an adult; compare the juvenile bird further down
the page. Like a small number of adults, this one has retained the light olive-gray leg color of juveniles, rather
than developing the more usual bright orange or pink. Below, a male Ruff, which would appear big and long-legged
with the dowitchers that are its frequent companions, looks very small next to avocets.
Above and below, a juvenile Ruff, showing lots of color in the upperparts compared to the adult, but almost none in the legs. Size
marks this bird as a male, substantially larger than the two Lesser Yellowlegs in the picture below; male Ruffs are about as big as
Greater Yellowlegs.
Adults showing sex size difference, with smaller female on left; apart from size, sexes have similar non-breeding plumage. Note the characteristic loose feathering on both birds.