Brig 8/17--Wilson's Phalarope, Red-necked Phalarope

Red-necked Phalarope (center)

 August used to be so easy. By this time of the month the lower and middle bogs plus Union Pond at Whitesbog would be mud and puddles and the place would be a mini-Brig. Every day I'd go over there and look at the shifting populations of shorebirds and waders. At least once a week there would be a rarity there--American Golden-Plover, Buff-Breasted Sandpiper, Baird's Sandpiper...but sadly, it appears dem days are over. So now, every day I have to make a decision as to where I think the birding will be most "productive" (read: "interesting"). 

Today, it was Brig because the interesting birds there were two species of phalarope which I hadn't notched for the year. After taking my walk from the Gull Pond up and around Jen's Trail, where the flies weren't too bad until the end, I drove the 8-mile loop, finally coming upon both the Wilson's Phalarope and the Red-necked Phalarope in the northwest corner of the drive, fairly far out and barely photographable. The flies, by the time it started to heat up, were getting bad enough to draw blood--I noticed a red blotch on my sock, so I wasn't too inclined to stand in one place scoping the sandpipers as they fed in the mud, but quick looks turned up a White-rumped Sandpiper, a Stilt Sandpiper, and 4 American Avocets, as well as the usual plovers and dowitchers. I'm sure there was a Western Sandpiper somewhere amongst the Semipalmated Sandpipers but there are only so many greenhead flies I'm willing to swat.

White Ibis (immature)

Snowy Egret

Black-crowned Night-Heron

The waders were especially cooperative today, more concerned with feeding by the outflow of the sluice gates than avoiding gawkers, so I was able to get some very close photographs of birds that normally are in the middle of the impoundments. Four immature White Ibis were at GM 6--gee, I remember when they were rare. 

I was only going to make one trip around the loop but after lunch I decided that a second loop might be worth it--if for no other reason than that I had missed Common Terns on the first trip around and that just didn't seem right. It was on the second loop that I managed to get both phalaropes in one scope view. Years ago at Whitesbog, right after I had just returned from Utah, we had both phalaropes in the Middle Bog. Phalaropes in Burlco are really rare, so when Greg pointed out the first odd bird to me, I said, "Oh, I just saw 5000 of these at the Great Salt Lake, it's a Wilson's Phalarope." Then someone found another phalarope and I said, "Well, I just saw 10,000 of these out there, it's a Red-necked Phalarope." Then all hell broke loose. I miss those days. 

For the two loops and a walk, 58 species. 

Canada Goose  30
Mute Swan  2
Wood Duck  7
Mallard  48
Mourning Dove  5
Clapper Rail  1
American Avocet  4
Black-bellied Plover  5
Semipalmated Plover  35
Short-billed Dowitcher  150
Wilson's Phalarope  1     
Red-necked Phalarope  1     
Lesser Yellowlegs  1
Willet  5
Greater Yellowlegs  20
Ruddy Turnstone  1
Stilt Sandpiper  1
White-rumped Sandpiper  1
Semipalmated Sandpiper  600
Laughing Gull  150
American Herring Gull  20
Black Skimmer  30
Least Tern  4
Caspian Tern  25
Forster's Tern  30
Common Tern  3
Double-crested Cormorant  60
White Ibis  4
Glossy Ibis  100
Yellow-crowned Night Heron  1
Black-crowned Night Heron  2
Snowy Egret  10
Great Egret  30
Great Blue Heron  12
Osprey  5
Cooper's Hawk  2
Bald Eagle  1
Downy Woodpecker  1
Peregrine Falcon  1
Eastern Wood-Pewee  2
Great Crested Flycatcher  2
American Crow  12
Fish Crow  1
Carolina Chickadee  2
Tree Swallow  30
Purple Martin  40
Northern Rough-winged Swallow  1
Barn Swallow  5
Marsh Wren  2
Carolina Wren  3
Gray Catbird  12
American Goldfinch  3
Field Sparrow  1
Seaside Sparrow  1
Song Sparrow  1
Red-winged Blackbird  10
Common Yellowthroat  1
Northern Cardinal  3