ML558090931
Contributor
Date
Location
- Age
- Not specified
- Sex
- Not specified
- Behaviors
- Foraging or eating
Media notes
Dark line through eye, white stripes in wings, streaky markings on back visible
Observation details
Spinning in water Phalarope style, mostly winter plumage, short black line through eye, back has some dark streaking unlike Red Phalarope, I saw bird fly through scope and there was an obvious white wingstripe which eliminates Wilson’s Phalarope. Viewed through scope at 60X from distance of about 0.1 mile. Doc photos from that distance taken ADDENDUM 10-18-2023 I have been upset by Jonathan Bontrager's comments ever since I found this bird. I decided to give my point of view so I can put this behind me. As soon as I had this Phalarope in my spotting scope I was almost positive it was not a Wilson's Phalarope simply because of that wide short obvious black line through eye looking like a winter-plumaged Forster's Tern. Oddly enough the bird flapped its wings only about 20 seconds after I got the spotting scope on it and I saw those obvious white wing stripes that totally exclude a Wilson's Phalarope. I then watched it long enough to be convinced it had back stripes and only then did I read about all three Phalaropes and review their paintings in my Sibley Guide to see if there were any additional field marks I could look for. The most time consuming part was taking hundreds of photos on manual focus hoping to get one showing the wingstripes or back pattern. ( Canon's autofocus is worthless for a small bird at that distance). I then checked to see if I had any cellphone service (often I don't) and being surprised that I had 1 bar I went ahead and posted the Red-necked Phalarope to ebird along with the word descriptions of the field marks I had seen. I added photos later in the day but I did not change the species ID or any word description. The photos were taken to show fieldmarks so I could get a "confirmed" status from ebird personnel. I will also point out that when I go to My Ebird / Checklists / 15 Apr 2023 Floodpools South of 154 and check on Edit Species , I can see that ebird considers a Wilson's Phalarope the same as a Killdeer or Least Sandpiper. That means if someone saw a Phalarope on the ebird Alerts that day for Sullivan County then it was not a Wilson's Phalarope because the ebird computer does not consider a Wilson's Phalarope worthy enough for that location and date to be put on an ebird Alert.
Technical information
- Model
- Canon EOS R5
- Lens
- RF600mm F4 L IS USM + EXTENDER RF1.4x
- ISO
- 1250
- Focal length
- 840 mm
- Flash
- Flash did not fire
- f-stop
- f/6.3
- Shutter speed
- 1/2000 sec
- Dimensions
- 1050 pixels x 760 pixels
- Original file size
- 368.1 KB