What is a Ruff???

I finally got a glimpse of the main purpose of the Norwegian and Finnish leg of our great European adventure–the male Ruff.  Artie and Anita wanted to photograph these beauties during the mating season, and after having one chance to photograph these birds so far, I can understand why.

Image: Nikon D500, Nikkor 200-500mm at 500mm, f/5.6, 1/800 sec, ISO 1600, hand-held from vehicle

Ruffs and reeves (the females) are considered medium-sized wading birds that breed in marshes and wet meadows across northern Europe and Asia.  During breeding season, the male plumage is a variety of colors that is used to attract a mate.

Image: Nikon D500, Nikkor 200-500mm at 500mm, f/5.6, 1/800 sec, ISO 1600, hand-held from vehicle

The males parade in front of females and fluff up the ring of feathers around their necks like a ruffle.  Hence their name!  The males display the the ring of feathers in front of the females, hoping to encourage copulation.

Image: Nikon D500, Nikkor 200-500mm at 500mm, f/5.6, 1/500 sec, ISO 1000, hand-held from vehicle

If there is more than one male in an area with a female, the males begin fighting, putting on a display of jumping, crouching and flaring up their feathers.  Unfortunately, I haven’t seen much of this behavior yet, but Anita made it out shooting that first afternoon (while Artie and I were napping) and was able to capture two birds fighting in an amazing photo!  You can see two of her images on Artie’s blog, here.

When the males are not displaying their feathers, they are rather calm and I even caught one resting.

Image: Nikon D500, Nikkor 200-500mm at 500mm, f/5.6, 1/500 sec, ISO 1000, hand-held from vehicle

All of these images were taken near Kaamanen, Finland alongside a road.  I have learned that these birds are very skittish and fly away in the close proximity of people.  However, they prefer certain spots and often go back to that same exact location.  Artie described it to me as a microhabitat that meets their needs for a breeding location.  Typically, the open grassy area where the males display their feathers is called a lek.  In this case in Kaamanen, the display was along the edge of this road.

Image: iPhone 7 Plus, hand-held from vehicle

The Ruffs pranced just on the other side of the gravel and when a truck drove by, they often flew to the edge of the water several hundred yards away, only to return to the exact same location after some time.  Because of this, we photographed these birds from the van (stationary), so as not to disturb their mating rituals.

Because this is the migration season, the Ruffs and reeves are on their way north, as were we.  We then began our journey north to Norway in hopes of seeing and photographing more of this species.

Info about Ruffs: Ruff website