Ruff are variable and normally I would be very pleased to see one, who wouldn't? Yesterday there had been a Pectoral Sandpiper both at Bowling Green and then discovered again later in the afternoon on Exminster Marsh. I went over there in a hurry both yesterday and today, it is a species that I would have liked a photograph for my Devon Birds Gallery. Yesterday it had just departed when I got there, a disappointment of course. I hoped that it would stick around so when I got a phone call today to say that it was back and showing well I rushed back down there full of anticipation. I was pleased when eventually, I started to get some good photos. I wasn't particularly impresed and was beginning to think it was a bit nondescript but there was excitement from the other assembled birders. Then, after a while, other very experienced, adept and adroit birders started to arrive. It wasn't long before doubts were voiced and within a few minutes the sandpiper was correctly identified as a Ruff! The leg colour was the first doubt, they are yellowish in the Pectoral Sandpiper but in this Ruff they were a shade of hardly green, almost grayish in fact. Then it became obvious that the demarcation on the chest was totally absent. In Pectoral Sandpiper there is a clear line between the chest and white belly. So there we had it, a Ruff and I am still to add Pectoral Sandpiper to my galleries. There was much teasing and banter between the assembled group of birders but all agreed that it can be easy to jump to conclusions, the main thing IS to get the ID correct in the end.
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