Calidris pugnax
Silhouette: Alexandre Vong · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
The ruff (Calidris pugnax) is a medium-sized wading bird that breeds in marshes and wet meadows across northern Eurasia. This highly gregarious sandpiper is migratory and sometimes forms huge flocks in its winter grounds, which include southern and western Europe, Africa, southern Asia and Australia.
The ruff is a long-necked, pot-bellied bird. This species shows marked sexual dimorphism; the male is much larger than the female (the reeve), and has a breeding plumage that includes brightly coloured head tufts, bare orange facial skin, extensive black on the breast, and the large collar of ornamental feathers that inspired this bird's English name. The female and the non-breeding male have grey-brown upperparts and mainly white underparts. Three differently plumaged types of male, including a rare form that mimics the female, use a variety of strategies to obtain mating opportunities at a lek, and the colourful head and neck feathers are erected as part of the elaborate main courting display. The female has one brood per year and lays four eggs in a well-hidden ground nest, incubating the eggs and rearing the chicks, which are mobile soon after hatching, on her own. Predators of wader chicks and eggs include mammals such as foxes, feral cats and stoats, and birds such as large gulls, crows and skuas.
The ruff forages in wet grassland and soft mud, probing or searching by sight for edible items. It primarily feeds on insects, especially in the breeding season, but it will consume plant material, including rice and maize, on migration and in winter. Classified as "least concern" on the IUCN Red List criteria, the global conservation concerns are relatively low because of the large numbers that breed in Scandinavia and the Arctic. However, the range in much of Europe is contracting because of land drainage, increased fertiliser use, the loss of mown or grazed breeding sites, and over-hunting. This decline has seen it listed in the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA). Wikipedia →
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Prague Zoo | 🇨🇿 Czechia | |
| 2 | National Zoological Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | ZooParc de Beauval | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 4 | Antwerp Zoo | 🇧🇪 Belgium | |
| 5 | Korkeasaari Zoo | 🇫🇮 Finland | |
| 6 | Zoo Pilsen | 🇨🇿 Czechia | |
| 7 | Parc animalier de Sainte-Croix | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 8 | Eekholt Wildlife Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 9 | Slimbridge Wetland Centre | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 10 | Münster Zoo | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 11 | NaturZoo Rheine | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 12 | Leningrad Zoo | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 13 | Santillana Zoo | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 14 | herpetarium warszawskiego ZOO | 🇵🇱 Poland | |
| 15 | Rákosův pavilon | 🇨🇿 Czechia | |
| 16 | Velemlokárium | 🇨🇿 Czechia | |
| 17 | akwarium warszawskiego ZOO | 🇵🇱 Poland | |
| 18 | Aquatopia | 🇧🇪 Belgium | |
| 19 | hipopotamiarnia i akwarium morskie warszawskiego ZOO | 🇵🇱 Poland |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Ruff sighting in Gorongosa National Park on a given day, based on 8 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 202nd most-seen of the 250 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
October and November
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Ruff in Gorongosa National Park on a given day, against under 5% in February and April–September, the lowest months. March and December–January have too few records to rate.
Between 11 am and 2 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Ruff sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
29th of 45
Of the 45 parks where we can rate Ruff sightings, Gorongosa National Park ranks 29th at under 5%. The best odds are in Kiskunság National Park (Hungary, about 40%), Hortobágy National Park (Hungary, about 40%) and Biebrza National Park (Poland, about 30%).
Same family: Scolopacidae
The closest relatives of the Ruff that you can see in Gorongosa National Park (family Scolopacidae, Sandpipers and Allies) are Wood Sandpiper (about 10%) and Common Greenshank (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Ruff is recorded against all the birds logged in Gorongosa National Park (8 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
