From south-bay-birds-bounces+south-bay-birds-archive=[[email protected]] Wed Mar 17 18:39:22 2004 Received: from www.plaidworks.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id i2I2bIAp029055 for <[[email protected]]>; Wed, 17 Mar 2004 18:37:18 -0800 (PST) Received: from la.znet.com (la.znet.com [207.167.96.1]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id i2I2aQpJ029004 for <[[email protected]]>; Wed, 17 Mar 2004 18:36:27 -0800 (PST) Received: from [66.52.162.168] (66-52-162-168.oak.inetworld.net [66.52.162.168] (may be forged)) by la.znet.com (8.12.6/8.12.6/le1-la) with ESMTP id i2I2aLAH020559 for <[[email protected]]>; Wed, 17 Mar 2004 18:36:23 -0800 (PST) X-Envelope-From: [[email protected]] X-Envelope-To: <[[email protected]]> Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Date: Wed, 17 Mar 2004 18:36:42 -0800 To: [[email protected]] From: Dean Manley <[[email protected]]> Subject: [SBB] Two RUFF day X-BeenThere: [[email protected]] X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5b1 Precedence: list List-Id: South Bay Birding List-Unsubscribe: , List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Sender: south-bay-birds-bounces+south-bay-birds-archive=[[email protected]] Errors-To: south-bay-birds-bounces+south-bay-birds-archive=[[email protected]] Hi SBBers, They are still here. Yesterday, 3/16, I spotted two RUFF on the "Dowitcher island" just west of the tracks in the New Chicago Marsh. Just as I found the 2nd Ruff the whole pond of birds flushed and I figured I'd lost my chance to compare the two. After about 20 minutes and intermediate stops in seperate locations the Ruffs came together in a favored (from previous observations) foraging zone SW of the Dowitcher island. I had good views from the hurricane fenced land projection off of Spreckles St. One of the Ruffs seemed most interested in staying near his buddy. As they got seperated while foraging the one bird (Ruff#2-see below) would all of a sudden go into full alert maximum heigth stance. After locationg his bud he would then trot over to within two feet and resume foraging. This happened three times while I was watching. Both Ruffs were males based on both being considerably larger than the Dowitchers and about the same as Greater Yellowlegs in the vicinity. Some details have been previously posted but the two are fairly easy to tell apart if you have a good view. Ruff#1 has very distinctive black or blackish barring on the tertials most evident over the full visable length of the very long tertial. The in between color is a cinnamonish shade if you got the angle. Ruff#2 has a fairly uniform brownish gray color over it's exposed long tertial length with two blackish spots at the tip. The tertials of both birds are white fringed. Ruff#1 has fringed scapulars with very blackish looking centers. However with a good rear quartering view one can see a some pumpkinish or cinnamonish color begining just where the above overlapping feather obscures further view on some scapulars. Note: Ruff#1 one kept his feathers sleeked down during my period of ovservation. Ruff#2 has fringed scapulars with less blackish centers that quickly fade to grays or brownish gray as you move away from the tip. The lower parts of the bird, including head, bill, and neck are very much the same looking overall with no buffy coloring present. I just wanted to describe relatively outstanding differences, for id/tracking purposes, that I saw so will leave it at that. Lately, I have had fair luck finding Ruff(s) at mid afternoon. Dean Manley _______________________________________________ Do not post admin requests to the list. They will be ignored. south-bay-birds mailing list ([[email protected]]) Help/Unsubscribe/Update your Subscription: http://www.plaidworks.com/mailman/options/south-bay-birds/south-bay-birds-archive%40plaidworks.com This email sent to [[email protected]]