Combattente

Dear Sir,

Today I have received the 12 ruff decoys I had ordered.
I use decoys for my free-time-work as a bird bander for the Dutch Bird Migration Department; more precisely: banding waders: golden plover, lapwing and also ruffs.
I have banded several thousands of birds in the past 30 years.
It is with this background, that I am writing you.

Recently I have ordered and received 12 golden plovers. Those are fine; I only needed to give them a bit more golden colour, but the most important feature, the size of the birds, is very good.

Unfortunately I can not say the same about the ruff decoys. They are much, much too big; size wood pigeon/black tailed godwit. Ruffs are smaller than golden plovers are; the average weight of a golden plover (depending a bit from the season) is 200 grams, whereas the average weight of a (male) ruff is around 170 grams. Female ruffs are even smaller; around 110 grams.

So I would suggest you to make ruff decoys in a smaller size, according to reality. I`ve enclosed a photo of a banded ruff.

I am happy to further discuss this if you`re interested,

With kind regards,

Cees Dekker
Polarisstraat 84
8303AG Emmeloord
The Netherlands