Subject: Return of the Ruff?
Date: Apr 4 17:18:37 2003
From: Betty Estes - estes1 at attbi.com


This afternoon, sometime between 2:30 and 3:00, I saw what was almost
certainly a Ruff beside Brady Loop Road. It was with three Greater
Yellowlegs, at the edge of a pond shortly before you get to Willis Road if
you start the Loop on the west side, as I did. There was a larger pond on
the lefthand (west?) side, with quite a few ducks in it. The shorebirds
were to my right (east?). They were very close to the road.

Two things about the bird were especially striking: the legs were a
very bright yellow, the same color as the legs of the Yellowlegs, and the
back was very scaly, with brownish-buff tips to the wing feathers. The bill
was relatively short and dark. The bird was almost as long as the
Yellowlegs, but much plumper. Since the birds were walking away from me, I
didn't get a look at the breast.

I hope one of you Tweets will relocate the bird, and confirm the
identification.

Betty Ruth Estes
Eld Inlet, w. of Olympia
estes1 at attbi.com