Rob Robinson

Rather large wader, males during breeding with distinctive coloured ‘ruff’, that occurs in three colour morphs. Males also have a rare cryptic female-like morph. Males gather on leks where displaying for visiting females, that then breed solitary or in loose colonies, often far away from lek. Breeds primarily in open tundra in Europe and Asia, but in western part of range also pastures, grasslands, peat bogs and other open habitats close to wetlands. European population is 265,000-1,650,000 lekking males, with a decreasing trend. Virtually extinct in SW part of European breeding area.

Season of assessment

B

Population trendDecreasing
Population size
(min-max, best estimate)		513000-1380000,841000
Red List categoryNT
Franks, S., Fiedler, W., Arizaga, J., Jiguet, F., Nikolov, B., van der Jeugd, Ambrosini, R, Aizpurua, O., Bairlein, F., Clark, J., Fattorini, N, Hammond, M., Higgins, D, Levering, H., Skellorn, W., Spina, F, Thorup, K. Walker, J., Woodward, I. and Baillie, S.R. (1) (2022) Online Atlas of the movements of European bird populations. https://migrationatlas.org EURING/CMS (1) Principal investigator
Map

Overall Connectivity for Ruff

Long-distance migrant. Predominant movement pattern from NNE to SW, with birds from entire breeding range moving to wintering areas in Western and Central Africa south of equator. East African winterers presumably from eastern part of breeding range, exemplified by few connections from Middle East and Ethiopia to Asia. Rare transatlantic movements to Canada and Caribbean. Most birds ringed during passage. Weak connectivity with tendency for birds ringed in North and East Europe to winter further east in Africa, but majority wintering West Africa. Strong connection for both western and eastern birds with Italy probably biased due to high hunting pressure there.

Recoveries by Condition for Ruff

40% of recoveries are birds shot or otherwise taken, with a decreasing trend over time. Relatively most shot birds are reported from Russia (>95%), closely followed by Italy (>80%), and from France, Denmark and the Netherlands. Ring recoveries (30%) and birds of which rings were read in the field (11%) are relatively most numerous in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. Reports of dead birds that died from other causes make up the remainder and are reported equally from all areas.

Annual Movements for Ruff

From end Nov to end Mar all re-encounters are in Africa and SW, SC and W Europe. In mid Apr encounters across C and E Europe, end Apr spreading further NE. Begin May first encounters in Russia, mid May Scandinavia and Russia including far east filled, end May easternmost breeding sites in Yakutia reached. From end Apr, encounters in Africa and SW Europe almost absent, by end May all encounters N of 50th latitude. Remarkable concentration in upper Niger Delta end Jun/begin Jul, coinciding with scattered encounters across Europe from Jul, increasing to peak during Aug in all European areas except Russia east of 45th longitude. Thinning out in Europe Sep, increasing number in Africa from end Sep. By mid Oct only few remain in Europe.

Connectivity by Month by Region for Ruff

Birds during breeding in May-Jun in N and E Europe and Asia mainly connect to migration sites in W and C Europe during Aug-Oct and Mar, Italy Mar-Apr. Connections to wintering sites in Africa are mostly in Oct-Feb. Re-encounters in winter and spring are very rare. Autumn encounters Jul-Sep in E Europe mainly between Black Sea and Finland within the period, birds in N Europe connect to migration sites within the region and period, and to (far)eastern breeding sites May-Jun, Black Sea Aug, Africa Oct-Mar, Italy mostly Mar and France Oct-Mar. Likely breeding birds in W and C Europe in Jun are rare and connect mostly to Italy Feb-Apr. Migrants Mar-Apr and Jul-Sep connect to Africa Oct-Mar, Russia and Fennoscandia May-Aug. Quite some birds winter France, connecting mainly to Fennoscandia in Aug.

Henk van der Jeugd

References

Statistics Map
N records N individuals N recoveries
Mapped data*
Total available data
*Mapped data include only distant (>= 50 km) recoveries