Chirps and Cheeps

A very rare shorebird, a Ruff, was reported in Shelby, New York this evening. Veteran birder, Doug Happ, invited me to go along on the chase with him; how could I resist?  I'm not sure what the rating is for the Ruff, but it is quite rare for our area. This bird may have been seen about a week ago - we had even tried for it with no luck. The speculation was that it had continued its journey and moved on through the area.

So tonight, the chase was on again. It was a very rainy and windy evening - and the temps were dropping by the hour. When we made it to the spot where the Ruff was reported, we found another birder, Sal, who was just ready to leave. He pointed us in the direction of the Ruff - and we were thrilled this beautiful male was still out in the flooded field amongst some Lesser and Greater Yellowlegs. Suffering Mother Nature's rough blasts of wind and rain, we set up scopes and cameras and took a few photos - hoping for the best...  I think the couple of rather poor photos of the Ruff are fairly identifiable.  If he decides to stick around, maybe I'll try again.