<https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-DqZmrfH5hDk/WSCJH7EqEQI/AAAAAAAAAHo/8mwSzIz6R5woGeCHJzWHRg5BZn9dl0uLgCLcB/s1600/Red-necked%2BPhalarope%2Bat%2BCottonwood.jpg>
<https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-TQmUAoY-ydw/WSCJDD87D_I/AAAAAAAAAHk/DGcWoC3-pUc30M1GdnUj45V4_kI22O07ACLcB/s1600/Wilson%2527s%2BPhalarope%2Bmale%2Bbreeding%2Bcolors.jpg> Sorry for the poor punctuation/spelling, I have a hard time seeing small text on my phone. When I arrived mid-afternoon, there were a bunch of Red-Necked Phalarope (I counted 20) working the shallows in Cottonwood Marsh, along with a few other wading birds. Along with a half-dozen Avocet, there was a mystery bird (to me, anyway) that was keeping mostly to itself, wading in the shallows close to the boardwalk. I watched it for awhile, then went for a walkabout through the rest of Walden/Sawhill. When I got back to the boardwalk, I encountered Megan Jones, who was kind enough to point out a couple of Long-Billed Dowitchers, a few Wilson's Pharalope and a couple of other wading birds that we thought might be Semipalmated Sandpipers at first, except one looked way too white for a SESA. After I got home and read through postings from other birders at Walden during the afternoon, I realized that they were Sanderling, a juvenile and an adult in breeding colors. Life bird for me ... OK, back to the mystery bird. It looked like a Phalarope, but it wasn't matching up with the information in my Sibley field guide, the smaller one that fits in my pocket. Megan's best guess was that it was a Wilson's Phalarope, but the clinker was that it had black legs, which were not shown in Sibley. Of course, that is spot on for a male WIPH, as I found out when I consulted my larger Sibley's guide at home. On the bright side, I now know what a male WIPH looks like, and I saw another one at Sombrero Marsh this morning, ID'ing it without hesitation. I included a picture of this bird above. Back to the Red-Necked Phalarope. It sounds like there were a bunch of them in the area over the last couple of days, as Matt Hofeditz spotted around 100 of them in Broomfield County yesterday, and undoubtedly other people saw small flocks of them in other places as well. eBird is having a hard time accepting these numbers, but I am sure they will come around eventually. A picture showing 11 of them is included. Looking at the reports from Walden Ponds this morning, nobody is reporting any Phalaropes today, so they must be on the move again. I guess yesterday was a good day to get out, at least for these birds. Good birding -- Jeff Parks Boulder -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to cobirds+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to cobirds@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/b6ca6719-580b-4d2e-b5e2-afb88cafa8b1%40googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
