ML100852121

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

Life bird 445. What a crazy sequence of events regarding this bird. Initially, while on the boardwalk, a slender and very light shorebird flew over us going east. Jerry, Chia and I all saw it fly over but only Jerry and I continued to watch the bird as it flew towards Corduroy Road. Shortly, the bird dropped below the tree line and we lost sight of it. We were pondering whether it was a Solitary or something else, and Jerry suggested Wilson's Phalarope, which seemed very possible based on our observations. After we finished birding the boardwalk, we parked at the mentor marsh nature center and walked down Corduroy, scanning constantly out into the marsh. All of a sudden, Chia screams "WILSON'S PHALAROPE I'M ON IT RIGHT NOW!" Soon after that, Jerry was on the bird, but I could not find it for numerous minutes. Finally, I was on the bird. It was foraging with a Lesser Yellowlegs. We called Ray (this was a new bird for the Headlands area), but after this, we had not seen the bird for a couple minutes so we went back to the cars to get scopes. Once we got back to the spot, with Ray present, it took several minutes before Jerry re-found the bird. As we watched it, it continued to move closer to us. Once everyone left except for Ray and I, the bird was not seen for at least 20 minutes (during that time Sarah Preston arrived), and we continued to scan until I re-found the bird. The wind made it much tougher to search for the bird (and photograph) but at least it was on our back. We watched it for a couple more minutes, but then it began to look tense. The phalarope took flight once, then quickly landed, then continued to look around frantically. After a couple seconds, the bird picked up and flew much further into the marsh (west). We did not try to relocate it. Overall, a great collaborative effort for this bird.

Technical information

Model

Canon PowerShot SX60 HS

ISO

100

Focal length

247 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/6.5

Shutter speed

1/200 sec

Dimensions

4608 pixels x 3456 pixels

Original file size

6.91 MB