Sunday, October 17, 2021
After early birding, I asked Lois L. if she had ever seen a RUFF. No. Neither had I, so we headed off to Caballero Dairy in Pinal County. We were late, both in the number of days that had elapsed since this very rare bird was first reported (3) and in time. It was late morning when we headed out.
Delighted to find a few cars parked in the area designated for birding at that location, I was then thrilled to discover the RUFF had just flown in from the middle of the odiferous slop pond to its edge near where we bird.
Lucking out that quickly for a rarity made my day. When I returned home, I needed to look up the word, ruff, to understand why the bird was so-named. In older times, women wore fancy neckwear, often of feathers, around their necks.
The RUFF bird we saw was not in breeding plumage when its "ruff" is full and fancy to encourage mating with a female. Today's bird, below, was in its basic plumage, having, in all likelihood, blown way off course during recent very turbulent winds. Its breeding territory is in the planet's largest ecozone: the Palearctic. (Think Siberia).
We had lucked out. The raised feathers are a "cowlick" not a ruff. The feather pattern was awesome.
Now, imagine this bird with a RUFF.
Thank you, RUFF, for coming into our general neighborhood!
* * *
View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S96293123
No comments:
Post a Comment