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Philomachus pugnax
The ruff is a medium-sized wading bird. It has a long neck, a small head, a rather short slightly droopy bill and medium-long orange or reddish leg. In flight it shows a faint wing-stripe and oval white patches either side of the tail.
It breeds in a very few lowland sites in eastern England, and it appears that numbers are dropping. It is a migrant but in the UK some birds are present all year round. Many young birds from Scandinavia visit the UK in late summer, then migrating on to Africa.
This little chap has been hanging around in the field behind my house for a few weeks and I'd love to know for sure what he (or she) is. My own guess is that it's some sort of sandpiper...
Spotted on Sep 6, 2011
Submitted on Sep 6, 2011
2 Comments
Thanks for your advice! I asked locally and it seems to be a ruff http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguid... part of the sandpiper family.
You have lots of kinds of sandpipers I think, and also stints. I think a local birder might be your best bet for identification. I looked through Birds of Europe by Jonsson, which is a great book, but I couldn't tell what you have there.