Subject: Re: W. Phalarope in San Juan Is. ?
Date: Jun 29 11:14:06 1994
From: Dennis Paulson - dpaulson at ups.edu


>I was on Cypress Island on Saturday and a bird (?) was barking like a dog in
>a small lake/swamp covered with water lilies (it is shown as Duck Lake on
>1:100,000 topo sheet). The only bird I can think of that makes this kind of
>sound is Wilson's Phalarope, but acc. to Wahl/Paulson, they are only here in
>migration? Clark blake, Dept. of Geology, WWU, Bellingham 98225

I wouldn't be surprised to find a Wilson's Phalarope in the San Juans in
late June; there might be nonbreeders, and a surprising number of
presumably migrant Wilson's Phalarope come through western WA in late
spring migration. Not only that, the bird has bred in western WA and could
do so again at any time. But (a) a water lily-covered pond isn't Wilson's
Phalarope habitat (they like open grass/sedge marshes), and (b) the burden
is on Clark to support a Wilson's Phalarope ID based on vocalization. I'd
have to ponder the common call sounding like a dog barking; I think of it
as a somewhat nasal, grunting "ernt". Was the bird "barking" continuously
or sporadically? That call is given only sporadically in my experience, I
believe by females courting males. How do you know it was a bird and not a
mammal or amphibian?

Dennis Paulson