15th September 2014 - Topsham
The dog needed a walk and I needed a walk so we went for a wander round Topsham, down The Strand and along The Goatwalk to Bowling Green Marsh, Goosemoor and back again. On a rising tide Black-tailed Godwits - juveniles are typically very approachable - can often be found feeding close by The Strand, occasionally other species join them. Today's bonus bird was a Ruff, no more than about 20 feet from the road and looking for all the world like it wasn't going to flush if I stopped. So I parked the dog, got out my camera and took a few photos.
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| Ruff - 15/9/2014 Topsham |
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| Ruff - 15/9/2014 Topsham |
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| Ruff - 15/9/2014 Topsham |
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| Ruff - 15/9/2014 Topsham |
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| Ruff - 15/9/2014 Topsham |
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| Ruff - 15/9/2014 Topsham |
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| Ruff - 15/9/2014 Topsham |
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| Ruff - 15/9/2014 Topsham |
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| Ruff - 15/9/2014 Topsham |
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| Ruff - 15/9/2014 Topsham |
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| Ruff and Black-tailed Godwit - 15/9/2014 Topsham |
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| Ruff and Black-tailed Godwits - 15/9/2014 Topsham |
I know most of you will immediately recognise this bird as a juvenile but since quite a bit of detail is visible in the photos I thought I might indulge myself and look at some of the ways to age it.
The scapulars, tertials and wing coverts are blackish centred with distinct and broad whitish (buff when fresh) fringes and tips. Fresh non-breeding feathers on an autumn adult would be greyer with more diffuse and thinner pale fringes and, in fact, a few new adult pattern feathers are visible among the longest 'upper' scapulars.
The breast is plain pale buff, though the colour is faint and quite faded with many whiter or greyer adult type feathers are appearing.
The tail feathers, just visible on a couple of photos, show sub-terminal black and buff banding or notching, these feathers are plain dark grey brown on adults.
The legs and feet are dull yellowish green, on an adult they would be more orange or even red.
Solitary Ruffs can be tricky to sex but as this bird was feeding alongside Blackwits and only seemed small and not tiny in comparison I'm inclined to think it's a male.
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