The Calidris pugnax, better known as the Ruff Sandpiper, is a bird that will make the most staunchest, conservative religious binary-confined Believer most disturbed by this avian created by their supposed God. Why? Because this bird is the most gender-fluid bird on Earth and it is not bound by any of mankind’s Bronze Age notion of binary heterosexuality only. As my other pages under “Us & Them” demonstrate, specifically Prairie Voles, Homo sapien Cousins, Whiptail Lizards, Auanema sp., and Pando, Trembling Giant, to name only six (6) in our animal kingdom, seven counting the Ruff Sandpiper here, they all shatter the “rules” of the antiquated notions of strictly a God-created, monogamous heterosexual-only mating system.

The same applies to us humans; sexuality and open polyamory is also equally fluid. The evidence is abundant and everywhere. Period. The Ruff Sandpiper is yet another example of Earth’s wide open mating systems. Not gender nor sexual-orientation is strictly black or white, A or B. It varies genetically all the time.

Most of the male ruffs gather among themselves, each breeding season, in great numbers displaying their flamboyant neck feathers as well as their physical prowess. These gatherings are called leks. The females browse around all the males, responding to the best ruffs. How? By bending over and presenting their genitals in an unabashed, fairly unambiguous posture stating they are willing to mate.

Here’s the non-binary part of the leking. A small percentage of males don’t bother with the flamboyant display of plumage or engaging in combative dueling. They instead wander around the lek searching for any females who are presenting their reproductive zone. But this isn’t all. A third type of extremely rare male ruff goes even further, because of its inverted section of its genome.

Yes, it’s true. Essentially they appear as larger females, but they too wonder about the lek searching for any presenting females to mate with. Often, it’s whatever male gets to her first. Nevertheless, these cross-dressing males, known as “Faeders,” have larger testes than many of the Satellite and Independent males. And here’s the best part! In all the wondering about, confusion, and searching, many of the dominate Independent males mount the Faeders while they are mounting the female at the bottom! This is sometimes referred to as a ménage à trois or better, a “sandpiper sandwich.” Wow, talk about a close-knit poly-community. Thank you God for creating these non-hetero creatures! 😉 (humor by the way)

Live Well – Love Much – Laugh Often – Learn Always

The Professor’s Convatorium © 2023 by Professor Taboo is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0