Male Ruff with white head markings. Ruffs display at leks on open ground where males display (and fight) to hold territory and attract females. About 83% of Ruff males have dark head and collar markings and these birds are dominant at leks. The white-headed birds are sub-ordinate, don't hold territory and are called satellites. Their presence at leks is tolerated by dominant males as territories with both types of males present appear to be better at attracting females - presenting the satellite birds with opportunities for sneak or opportunistic mating. The differences are genetic in origin and their persistence indicates some degree of success for this strategy. Recent research has indicated the presence of a third male form which is basically female-like in appearence. This form (which accounts for 1% of the population) is called the 'faeder' (father) and is thought to be a throwback to original male form before evolutionary divergence to current male plumage. These feader-types are believed to be sneak maters as, despite their smaller size and female morphology, their testes are 2.5 times larger than other males!!
low Arctic to temperate tundra and steppe of Palearctic: nw Europe from Belgium and Scandinavia s through n Ukraine, nw Kazakhstan, n Mongolia to far e Siberia
Nonbreeding Range Subregions
AF, sw PAL, India : inland and coastal c, s Europe, Africa, Middle East, Indian subcontinent, se Asia, Philippines, ec China, Taiwan and c to s Japan; rarer Indonesian Arch.
Africa (entire continent rather than south of Sahara)
AN
Antarctica
AO
Atlantic Ocean
AU
Australasia (Wallacea (Indonesian islands east of Wallace's line), New Guinea and its islands, Australia, New Zealand and its subantarctic islands, the Solomons, New Caledonia, and Vanuatu)
PAL
Eurasia (Europe, Asia from the Middle East through central Asia north of the Himalayas, Siberia and northern China to Japan)
IO
Indian Ocean
LA
Latin America (Middle and South America)
MA
Middle America (Mexico through Panama)
NA
North America (includes the Caribbean)
NO
Northern oceans
OR
Oriental Region (South Asia from Pakistan to Taiwan, plus Southeast Asia, the Philippines, and Greater Sundas)