AIAI reconstruction created with Nano Banana 2 · 1K, grounded in the profile’s documented taxonomy, habitat, natural-history sources, and an open-license visual reference when available. It is an interpretive image, not documentary evidence. Image policy →
Ruff
Combatiente
Calidris pugnax
The Ruff (Calidris pugnax) is a medium-sized migratory shorebird associated with wetlands. Breeding males develop highly variable ornamental head tufts and shaggy neck ruffs and display communally at leks; females are smaller and brown-and-white. Outside breeding plumage it resembles a more typical sandpiper and feeds mainly on insects and other invertebrates. It breeds across northern Eurasia, and a small number of vagrants reach North America. In Puerto Rico it is an accidental or vagrant species.
Sound archive
Hear its voice
Explore real songs and calls. The spectrogram turns each sound into a visual trace of time and frequency.

Play: call by Lars Edenius
Choose another recording
Sound recorded by Lars Edenius · XC903292 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Visualization by Stichting Xeno-canto voor Natuurgeluiden.
Every recording retains the creator, catalogue number, and license published by Xeno-canto. Metadata via GBIF ↗
Island profile
About the Ruff
The Ruff (Calidris pugnax) is a medium-sized migratory shorebird associated with wetlands. Breeding males develop highly variable ornamental head tufts and shaggy neck ruffs and display communally at leks; females are smaller and brown-and-white. Outside breeding plumage it resembles a more typical sandpiper and feeds mainly on insects and other invertebrates. It breeds across northern Eurasia, and a small number of vagrants reach North America. In Puerto Rico it is an accidental or vagrant species.
Conservation
Least Concern
IUCN LC
- Global IUCN
- LC
- Puerto Rico DNER
- No current listing in source crosswalk
- Federal ESA
- No current listing in source crosswalk
- Critical habitat
- Not identified in source crosswalk
Natural history
How it lives
- Habitat
- wetlands
- Elevation
- 0–1000 m
- Nest
- Scrape · Grass
- Clutch
- 3–4 eggs
- Social behavior
- Colonial; Social / flocking; Solitary; Lekking
Keep exploring
This bird belongs to 6 paths through the atlas.
Evidence trail







