Ruff in Stratford, CT, July 2016

Although Ruff is a rarity anywhere in New England, it is becoming more regular along the coast.  And some of these birds will stick around for a while.  For example, there were 3 Ruff sightings in CT and RI in the first half of 2016 alone –

• Weekapaug, RI - 4/28 - 5/2
• Milford Point, CT – 5/2 – 7
• Sandy Point, CT – 5/14

Although I was able to see the RI bird, both of the CT birds were far enough away that I couldn’t quite justify chasing after them.  Though in each case the multiple posts on the listserve and on eBird sure made me think about reconsidering my self-imposed driving distance limit for rarity chasing.

Then in July came yet another report of a Ruff, this one in Stratford, in a small marsh behind the animal control building.  As with the earlier birds, there were excellent details on the listserve and regular updates.  And although the driving distance to Stratford is a bit farther that I would like, this bird seemed to be very reliable, and not tide dependent.  And perhaps just as important – I had some spare time available to chase after it.  The stars had finally aligned to chase after a CT Ruff!

I left in the early morning on the 4th day of this bird’s stay, crossing my fingers that it would still be around by the time I had finally convinced myself to go for it.  As I arrived at the animal control parking lot I could see the small marsh and mudflat up ahead that the bird had been calling home for the last several days.  It wasn’t much to speak of – seemingly marginal habitat, and the most common bird on the mudflat was the many Starlings walking about.  But for whatever reason it had been appealing to the Ruff and the Yellowlegs it was typically seen with.

As I set up my scope all the Starlings took off out of the wetlands.  Although normally that might not be a bad thing, I worried that whatever chased off the Starlings might have chased the Ruff away as well.  A post from the previous day mentioned that the bird was only seen as a flyover, so it was coming and going from the site at least a little bit.  On my first quick scan the only shorebirds I found were a few Killdeer.  Then I spent some time scrutinizing the phragmites in the back of the marsh which the target bird seemed to favor – but still no Ruff and not even the Yellowlegs it was typically accompanying.  Over the next couple minutes a few Ibis and Snowy Egrets dropped in, so I thought maybe the Ruff and Yellowlegs might fly in too.  But the only additional activity I saw for the next several minutes were more Starlings milling about.

Then I went back to scanning the frags at the back of the marsh – and all of a sudden there was a Yellowlegs.  And a few seconds later I saw a bit of movement amongst the vegetation – seconds later the Ruff walked out into the open.  They must have been there the whole time, but just not visible from my vantage point.  I got these couple miserable phonescoped pictures of the bird in the distance through the heat shimmer, including one with its Yellowlegs pal.

Glad to finally check that one off my CT list so I don’t have to be frustrated by any more posts about Ruff sightings in the future.

Ruff was number 328 for me in CT, which is my 8th northeast state for this species.  Plus I can’t forget the beautiful male white Ruff I saw in breeding plumage in Barrow, AK a few years ago.