Subject: [Tweeters] Red-necked Phalarope at Montlake Fill this morning
Date: Aug 9 10:35:16 2009
From: Evan Houston - evanghouston at yahoo.com


Hi Tweets,

At the Montlake Fill at about 7:30 this morning, I was pleasantly surprised by a juvenile Red-necked Phalarope, a very exciting Fill-first for me!

I lucked into the bird while scanning at the SE point (there is a clump of about 3 tall cottonwoods here, and some logs set up by the water's edge for people to picnic). I was watching some Least Sandpipers foraging on the lily pads, when the phalarope flew a short distance, catching my attention. I watched it swim and stand on the pads where they formed a border with the open water of the lake, about 30 feet away. It then flew out and landed on the open water of Union Bay. If you look for this bird, it unfortunately probably won't stay long, but I would recommend bringing a scope and scanning the open water as well as the lily pads.

Nothing else too unusual. At least half a dozen Least Sandpipers shuttled back and forth between the main pond and lily pads on the lake, and other shorebirds were Killdeer and Spotted Sandpiper. A Green Heron and a juvenile Virginia Rail were visible, the latter by the SW pond, as well as the first Cooper's Hawk I've seen in several months at the Fill. The only migrant passerines I could find were a couple of Yellow Warblers, and several dozen Vaux's Swifts foraged overhead.

A diagnostic, but not great photo of the phalarope can be seen at:
http://tinyurl.com/r4uvwy

A map of the Fill is at:
http://www.waders.org/locations/washington/montlake/sitemap.html

Good birding,
Evan Houston
Seattle, WA