To fill in my earlier report: Having looked more carefully at my photos, the male Ruff was in transition plumage with plenty of remaining long black(ish) feathers on the neck/head area, but I think it would look pretty ragged at rest in daylight, obviously different than other shorebirds, but not gorgeous. The face/head was blotchy, not uniformly dark. The underparts were whitish. In a couple of my photos I can tell that the slightly down-curved bill was orangish with a black tip. The bulkiness of the body, about twice the diameter of nearby Lesser Yellowlegs may have been emphasized by being generally fluffed up during preening, but of course the other reason is that, according to Sibley, a male Ruff weighs 181 grams compared to Lesser Yellowlegs' mere 80 grams and even Greater Yellowlegs' 160 grams, while a male Ruff is only slightly longer than a Lesser Yellowlegs due to Ruff's proportionally shorter legs, neck, & bill. To clarify about shorebird numbers, the estimate of 200 Tringa at Eaton was when Dave Wheeler & partner had joined me, which was far more than they had seen there earlier in the day. --Dave Nutter
Sent from my iPad > On Jul 8, 2017, at 11:52 PM, Dave Nutter <nutter.d...@mac.com> wrote: > > On my way south to Ithaca this evening from the Renaissance Fair in Sterling > NY, just east of Fair Haven Beach SP, Laurie & I swung through Montezuma > NWR's Wildlife Drive. This morning there had been a rain shower there as we > headed north, and I was hoping to see a Least Bittern or American Bittern, or > perhaps the elusive American White Pelican. When we arrived, the sky was > clear, but the sun was low. It was a challenge to view anything on the left > on the first half of the drive, and I missed all my target species. > > At Eaton Marsh in the open water around a wire structure, which is perhaps a > duck trap, there were several dozen large shorebirds resting, and I set about > identifying them by silhouette through my window-mounted scope against the > reflected sunset. There were a few Greater Yellowlegs mixed in with mostly > Lesser Yellowlegs. Then I got to one with long feathers flopping out in all > directions from its head and neck as it preened. It kept contorting itself, > so it was difficult to get a photo that looked like a shorebird let alone one > which showed its shorter curved bill compared to the Yellowlegss. Eventually > I succeeded, and after the sun set I actually was able to pick out some of > the more blotchy pattern on the back. I think the ruff was black but can't > swear to it. I have no idea the color of the head. I am confident it was a > male Ruff with a lot of breeding plumage consisting of feathers about the > length of its head, but I can't say how ragged it will look in daylight. The > bird appeared larger than the Lesser Yellowlegs nearby, probably due to it > having all its feathers ruffled. > > As soon as I got some documentary photos I sent out a text Rare Bird Alert, > then tried to get better photos. While I was checking the quality of them, > the dang thing disappeared. I think it flew to the right and may have gone to > a part of the marsh which was closer and more hidden by vegetation. Shortly > thereafter Dave Wheeler showed up with a woman whose name I forget even > though there were introductions all around - sorry. They had been on the > Wildlife Drive earlier and were at East Road when they got my message. They > said that there hadn't been nearly as many shorebirds at Eaton when they had > looked and remarked that there were about a couple hundred Yellowlegss, which > is also several times more than I had noticed at first. We scanned until it > got too dark and mosquitoey, but did not re-find it. On the other hand, > neither did we see shorebirds leaving, and the only other place we had seen > shorebirds was Seneca Flats, the new area just past Larue's Lagoon, which had > several Killdeer, Lesser Yellowlegs and Least Sandpipers. I hope somebody > re-finds it tomorrow. I want to know what it looks like! > > --Dave Nutter > -- > > Cayugabirds-L List Info: > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm > > ARCHIVES: > 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html > 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds > 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html > > Please submit your observations to eBird: > http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ > > -- > -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
