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Ruff
Calidris pugnax
species of Scolopacidae

ad. male
number longest
primary 10 per wing 120.5 - 147.0mm n=7
P9 (100%)
secondary 15 per wing 95.0 - 123.0mm n=6
S12 (67%) S13 (17%) S12=S13 (17%)
retrix 12
61.0 - 79.0mm n=5
R2 (40%) R1=R3 (20%) R1=R5 (20%) R4 (20%)
wing length1 hand-wing-index1,2 (HWI) primaries-index wing length/longest primary ratio hand-wing-index/primaries-index ratio
144 - 185mm n=10 48 - 56% n=8 41 - 44% n=6 no data available no data available
detailed information

The wing length is measured on the flattened and straightened wing ("maximum chord") from the carpal joint to the tip of the longest primary feather, the so-called "Kleinschmidt-method".

combined data from:
Avonet1: 144 - 185mm n=10

The hand-wing-index, introduced by Kipp 1959, is calculated as the ratio of the hand length (difference between the length of the longest primary and the first secondary) to the wing length.

combined data from:
Avonet1: 48 - 56% n=8,
The primaries-index is calculated as the ratio of the longest primary feather length to the first (outermost) secondary. It is the equivalent of the hand-wing index for feather measurements. The wing length/longest primary ratio is calculated as the ratio of the wing length to the length of the longest primary feather. The hand-wing-index/primaries-index ratio is calculated as the ratio of the hand-wing index to the primaries-index.
1 Tobias, J. A., et al. (2022). AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds.
2 Kipp, Friedrich A.: "Der Handflügel-Index als flugbiologisches Maß", erschienen in "Vogelwarte - Zeitschrift für Vogelkunde", 1959, Band 20, Heft 1



male
female

country allocations

extant

Afghanistan · Albania · Algeria · Angola · Anguilla (vagrant) · Antigua and Barbuda (vagrant) · Armenia · Australia (vagrant) · Austria · Azerbaijan · Bahrain · Bangladesh · Barbados (vagrant) · Belarus · Belgium · Benin · Bermuda (vagrant) · Bosnia and Herzegovina · Botswana · Brazil (vagrant) · Brunei Darussalam · Bulgaria · Burkina Faso · Burundi · Cabo Verde · Cambodia · Cameroon · Canada (vagrant) · Cayman Islands (vagrant) · Central African Republic · Chad · China · Colombia (vagrant) · Comoros (vagrant) · Congo · Congo, The Democratic Republic of the · Costa Rica (vagrant) · Côte d'Ivoire · Croatia · Cyprus · Czechia · Denmark · Djibouti · Dominica (vagrant) · Egypt · Eritrea · Estonia · Eswatini · Ethiopia · Faroe Islands (vagrant) · Finland · France · Gabon · Gambia · Georgia · Germany · Ghana · Greece · Greenland (vagrant) · Grenada (vagrant) · Guadeloupe (vagrant) · Guam · Guatemala (vagrant) · Guinea · Guinea-Bissau · Hong Kong · Hungary · Iceland (vagrant) · India · Indonesia · Iran, Islamic Republic of · Iraq · Ireland · Israel · Italy · Jamaica (vagrant) · Japan (vagrant) · Jordan · Kazakhstan · Kenya · Korea, Democratic People's Republic of (vagrant) · Korea, Republic of · Kuwait · Kyrgyzstan · Lao People's Democratic Republic (vagrant) · Latvia · Lebanon · Lesotho · Liberia · Libya · Liechtenstein (vagrant) · Lithuania · Luxembourg · Madagascar (vagrant) · Malawi · Malaysia · Maldives (vagrant) · Mali · Malta · Marshall Islands · Martinique (vagrant) · Mauritania · Mauritius (vagrant) · Mexico (vagrant) · Micronesia, Federated States of · Moldova, Republic of · Monaco · Mongolia · Montenegro · Montserrat (vagrant) · Morocco · Mozambique · Myanmar · Namibia · Nepal · Netherlands · New Zealand (vagrant) · Niger · Nigeria · North Macedonia · Northern Mariana Islands · Norway · Oman · Pakistan · Palau · Palestine, State of · Panama (vagrant) · Papua New Guinea · Peru (vagrant) · Philippines · Poland · Portugal · Puerto Rico (vagrant) · Qatar · Romania · Russian Federation · Rwanda · Saint Kitts and Nevis (vagrant) · Saint Lucia (vagrant) · Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (vagrant) · Saudi Arabia · Senegal · Serbia · Seychelles (vagrant) · Sierra Leone · Singapore · Slovakia · Slovenia · Solomon Islands (vagrant) · Somalia · South Africa · South Sudan · Spain · Sri Lanka · Sudan · Svalbard and Jan Mayen (vagrant) · Sweden · Switzerland · Syrian Arab Republic · Taiwan, Province of China · Tajikistan · Tanzania, United Republic of · Thailand · Timor-Leste · Togo · Trinidad and Tobago (vagrant) · Tunisia · Türkiye · Turkmenistan · Uganda · Ukraine · United Arab Emirates · United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland · United States Minor Outlying Islands (vagrant) · United States of America (vagrant) · Uzbekistan · Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of (vagrant) · Viet Nam · Virgin Islands, British (vagrant) · Virgin Islands, U.S. (vagrant) · Yemen · Zambia · Zimbabwe ·
source: IUCN 2025. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2025-1 <www.iucnredlist.org>
assessment data: |

Waders, gulls and auks

distribution

conservation status

  • CITES
    not listed
  • Regulation (EG) Nr. 865/2006
    not listed
  • German Federal Nature Conservation Act §44
    strictly protected