Hi y'all-
Went for a walk this evening at Thompson Lake in the Steamboat Rock Wildlife Area. The usual suspects were out: Redheads, Ruddys, Gadwall, Shovelers, Coots, Scaup, Ring-necks, Wigeon, Mallard, and Cinnamon Teal, along with a zillion bank swallows and a cacophony of Yellow-headed Blackbirds.

But the highlight was a group of 27 Red-necked Phalaropes - red throats, black caps, gray breasts, and orange and black striped backs. Nine of them were in bold enough plumage to count as adult breeding females. The other 18 ranged from basic black and white to faded presumed males. Cool birds that I haven't seen in Grant County before.

P.S. - Does anyone know the proper collective noun for phalaropes? If there isn't one, I vote for "a whirligig of phalaropes".

- Roy A. Myers, Electric City