| This Old World breeder makes annual visits to the eastern shore of North America, and its appearance in North Carolina, almost exclusively on the coast, is not quite annual. There are no mountain records for the Ruff, and hardly any from the Piedmont and inner Coastal Plain. When here, the Ruff is always noted just as a single bird. This is literally a unique species; males and females often go by different common names, because each male has a somewhat different color pattern/phase from others, often like Rock Pigeons. A male is called a "Ruff", and a female a "Reeve". Thankfully, the English/common name for the species is Ruff, though a few lists call the species "Ruff (Reeve)" or even "Ruff and Reeve"! This seems to be a frequently mid-identified species in the state, and thus some published reports are likely incorrect; Pectoral Sandpiper is the usual culprit, but Stilt Sandpipers have been misidentified as Ruffs on occasion, as probably also have yellowlegs and dowitchers. While in North Carolina, the males are seldom in full regalia, though some records are of males still in partial breeding plumage; most sightings are of females or basic-plumaged males. Typical habitats are brackish to fresh pools and impoundments, especially in dredge spoil ponds. It tends to avoid salt water and most tidal mudflats. For whatever reason, Ruffs tend to avoid the several ideal-looking impoundments at Pea and Bodie islands, though there are some records. Also, Ruffs tend not to linger at a given site, and thus few records are of multiple days or with multiple observers. Why North Carolina has so few records, as compared with South Carolina, is a complete mystery, as the species occurs on the East Coast mainly from Virginia northward.
Despite this being a completely unique species of shorebird, the AOU changed its scientific name in 2013. Instead of it being in the monotypic genus Philomachus, it was moved into Calidris, which contains the peep and other small to medium-sized sandpipers. |