Fwd: [nysbirds-l] Ruff at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge (Queens Co.)

2012-08-02 Thread Derek Rogers 
Looks like Ken's photographed bird has a pronounced white ring around the
base of its bill. Andrew's and my photos (Andrew's are much better) are not
showing such a pronounced ring. Perhaps my eyes are decieving me, lighting
is always a factor out on the East Pond, but are these two different birds?
Just posing the question...

-- Forwarded message --
From: ken feustel 
Date: Thu, Aug 2, 2012 at 4:03 PM
Subject: [nysbirds-l] Ruff at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge (Queens Co.)
To: NYSBIRDS-L@cornell.edu


Sue and I birded the East Pond at JBWR this morning, starting at the south
end and working our way along the east side of the pond. We found the
birding to be better at the north end of the pond, where we quickly saw the
*American Avocet.* An immature Peregrine Falcon kept us company for much of
the walk up the pond, scattering the shorebirds in all directions. We had
reached North Island when we noticed a *Ruff/Reeve* on the east side of the
pond a little north of the island. We watched the bird for a while and I
obtained some poor pictures before something scared the birds and we could
not relocate the Ruff. There has been some speculation that this bird might
be the same Reeve that was present earlier on the East Pond. Sexual
dimorphism in Ruffs is well known, and over the years I have observed many
(relative term) more Ruffs than Reeves. So size differences in Reeves is
not something I have had much experience with.

What struck us (and Andrew Baksh as well) was that this bird appeared
larger than the Short-billed Dowitchers (11") around it.  If this was a
Reeve (10") you would expect it to be smaller than the dowitchers, although
Paulson in "Shorebirds of North America" indicates that a female "is of
dowitcher size" while a Ruff is similar in size to a Greater Yellowlegs
(14"). I had observed the Reeve at the south end of the East Pond a few
weeks ago in the company of Lesser Yellowlegs (10.5") and the birds
appeared fairly similar in size. A Ruff (12") would seem to be a better fit
for today's bird, at least in terms of size. My photograph of today's bird
shows white feathering around the base of the bill, a feature that is
largely missing from last week's Reeve. I have posted a poor photograph of
the Ruff on my Flickr site. Compare the size of the Ruff to the sleeping
dowitcher on the extreme left of the photo. A photo of the Reeve that was
observed in July is also on the site at http://flickr.com/photos/kfeustel/

There is likely better photos of the Ruff/Reeve floating around, so stay
tuned.

Good Birding!

Ken & Sue Feustel
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Fwd: [nysbirds-l] Ruff at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge (Queens Co.)

2012-08-02 Thread Derek Rogers 
Looks like Ken's photographed bird has a pronounced white ring around the
base of its bill. Andrew's and my photos (Andrew's are much better) are not
showing such a pronounced ring. Perhaps my eyes are decieving me, lighting
is always a factor out on the East Pond, but are these two different birds?
Just posing the question...

-- Forwarded message --
From: ken feustel feus...@optonline.net
Date: Thu, Aug 2, 2012 at 4:03 PM
Subject: [nysbirds-l] Ruff at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge (Queens Co.)
To: NYSBIRDS-L@cornell.edu


Sue and I birded the East Pond at JBWR this morning, starting at the south
end and working our way along the east side of the pond. We found the
birding to be better at the north end of the pond, where we quickly saw the
*American Avocet.* An immature Peregrine Falcon kept us company for much of
the walk up the pond, scattering the shorebirds in all directions. We had
reached North Island when we noticed a *Ruff/Reeve* on the east side of the
pond a little north of the island. We watched the bird for a while and I
obtained some poor pictures before something scared the birds and we could
not relocate the Ruff. There has been some speculation that this bird might
be the same Reeve that was present earlier on the East Pond. Sexual
dimorphism in Ruffs is well known, and over the years I have observed many
(relative term) more Ruffs than Reeves. So size differences in Reeves is
not something I have had much experience with.

What struck us (and Andrew Baksh as well) was that this bird appeared
larger than the Short-billed Dowitchers (11) around it.  If this was a
Reeve (10) you would expect it to be smaller than the dowitchers, although
Paulson in Shorebirds of North America indicates that a female is of
dowitcher size while a Ruff is similar in size to a Greater Yellowlegs
(14). I had observed the Reeve at the south end of the East Pond a few
weeks ago in the company of Lesser Yellowlegs (10.5) and the birds
appeared fairly similar in size. A Ruff (12) would seem to be a better fit
for today's bird, at least in terms of size. My photograph of today's bird
shows white feathering around the base of the bill, a feature that is
largely missing from last week's Reeve. I have posted a poor photograph of
the Ruff on my Flickr site. Compare the size of the Ruff to the sleeping
dowitcher on the extreme left of the photo. A photo of the Reeve that was
observed in July is also on the site at http://flickr.com/photos/kfeustel/

There is likely better photos of the Ruff/Reeve floating around, so stay
tuned.

Good Birding!

Ken  Sue Feustel
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-- 
Derek Rogers
Sayville
http://dereksnest.blogspot.com

--

NYSbirds-L List Info:
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Please submit your observations to eBird:
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