Thursday (8/23) after lunch at McD's, my friend Terry?and I made our usual rounds of the?Edmonds marsh and fishing pier to photograph birds.?? Sandpipers have been visiting the marsh for the past week and?we thought?the flock of 10-12 birds?flying past the fishing pier was just another group of sandpipers until they landed out in the Sound.?? Neither one of us had ever seen seen sandpipers land and float on water before, so we?wondered what type of sandpiper did that???Looking at my photos, taken with my big (but not my biggest) honkin' lens,??I believe the mysterious sandpipers were actually red-necked phalaropes,?a first time sighting for me.?

?Bill Anderson; Edmonds, WA. USA