Feeding the Ruff!!!

[Martin Berrigan]

To feed the Ruff it's to feed one you must feed them all.Here is what you should do,there are a lot of Ducks wanting in on the food as it is cold,the Ruff feeds on the Spit,the Virginia river outflow into the lake with the Ducks,they are his buddies,they give him no trouble.You need a large bag of seed feed,when the Spit is clear of photographer's as you can patiently just wait,then enter the Spit and quickly spread the seed all about the gravel Spit,then leave immediately,the Ruff will quickly settle in with the Ducks,ask other's at the time who want to go onto the Spit to give the Ruff time to eat,this is how it works and it works like clockwork,with that said I'm off to feed him at 3:30 pm,regular feeding while cold,two more cold day's then he'll have a long break from bitter temps,Thanks to everyone contributing,H.J and J.B just geared me up with money and I bought a bag of scratch with it,Thank you Ladies.Gerard

[Martin Berrigan]

On Monday, January 8, 2024 at 1:47:55 p.m. UTC-5, Martin Berrigan wrote:
> To feed the Ruff it's to feed one you must feed them all.Here is what you should do,there are a lot of Ducks wanting in on the food as it is cold,the Ruff feeds on the Spit,the Virginia river outflow into the lake with the Ducks,they are his buddies,they give him no trouble.You need a large bag of seed feed,when the Spit is clear of photographer's as you can patiently just wait,then enter the Spit and quickly spread the seed all about the gravel Spit,then leave immediately,the Ruff will quickly settle in with the Ducks,ask other's at the time who want to go onto the Spit to give the Ruff time to eat,this is how it works and it works like clockwork,with that said I'm off to feed him at 3:30 pm,regular feeding while cold,two more cold day's then he'll have a long break from bitter temps,Thanks to everyone contributing,H.J and J.B just geared me up with money and I bought a bag of scratch with it,Thank you Ladies.Gerard

If one wishes to support the feeding of the Ruff thru Winter I would welcome bags of Scratch which can be purchased at The Country store Topsail road drive thru and make sure the feed is put out when needed,Thanks,Gerard

[Martin Berrigan]

I'm off to Renews,I will feed The Ruff today between 12 and 1 and won't be back till sunrise feed on Sunday.Show some Love to the Ruff and visit with feed on Saturday and late today.Yes there is a lot of Ducks,what one should do is back of the Spit throw down a few cups that will deal with the ducks,then quickly walk around Spit to runout and throw in shallow water and edges,The Ruff knows the game and when spreading seed on Spit throw and spread wildly,this will be a good way to feed Ruff and he Loves to be on the outside edges of the ducks but he's not afraid either to get right in,Thanks.Gerard

[Martin Berrigan]

Well feeding the Ruff no pun intended is rough.My full time team-mate V.C's along with other's especially C.M,H.J's and J.B who help us and other's who donate are dealing with Megan ducks,at times the feeding of the Ruff they are failures like sunrise feed,but 1:30 pm went well.Hit the parking lot with a few cups get a group away from Spit,then dash to Spit and throw about quickly and vamoose,so far so good.At times if he ever has peace in the run-out and ducks are few I will attempt a blow pipe of lightweight mealworm onto runout water and he loves floating food as on storms cubes of suet and mealworm floated to him and he ate off water,suffice to say it's gonna be a long winter.All sites are prepped.The West side entrance into the back parking lot of Waterford Hospital,then in the parking lot the most North-west top corner there is a trail where the Pine and Townsend were reported,if you get out of a car right in the corner spot,walk about 30 steps just past the fence on your right opposite the houses I have a suet cage there getting a lot of action but I leave quickly so if border's go there,I have a suspicion that one of those two warblers may be accessing that cage somewhat under big spruces totally protected from weather,what's going on at that cage,it was well eaten.Gerard

[Martin Berrigan]

Both the sunrise feeding and 12 noon feeding went well with the Ruff,now you get the duckies into the bridge throw out three cups,dash to the Spit and throw all over and Ruff fed twice well,this minimizes the ducks on the Spit and gives the boy room,work's like a charm.Gerard

[Martin Berrigan]

V.C's is really making an amazing effort for the Ruff down at the Virginia outflow into Quidi Vidi,thru bitter winds and terrible squalls yesterday and just bitter cold with wind today both her and C.M are giving everything they have to help the Ruff.It's a major drag not to be able to help with m!y back injury but if anyone has some spare seed go throw it on the Spit and spread it out,any help is surely appreciated.To the Ladies you are amazing and when I get back you can go on Holidays for a week for what you will go thru this week and especially yesterday and today,Thank-you V.C's and C.M,best two people you will ever meet who go thru so much just to help our birds.If the Ruff is around tomorrow,it's because of they're amazing effort's.The Ruff is in wait for the seed deliveries,hits the seed as soon as it is put about,still some other's believe the bird is surviving on microscopic invertebra,they could not be more wrong!,if not for these efforts there would be no Ruff.Some days he was cold and holding his feet up and in apparent stress,it was the consistent feeding of all kinds of plant seed that has gotten the Ruff to where he is now,any help is appreciated and we have an ensemble of donators who are helping us immensely.Your donations are greatly appreciated.Gerard