This afternoon at about 2:30, I was (eventually) able to find one WILSON?S PHALAROPE, which was preening itself on shore at the extreme west corner. Also saw the half-dozen or so YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRDS, some at the pond, some over the barns when I turned around. Several BANK SWALLOWS were flying around over the pond, and occasionally perching on low wires in front of the pond.

== Michael Hobbs
== www.marymoor.org/birding.htm
== BirdMarymoor at frontier.com

From: Birder1944 at aol.com
Sent: Monday, May 16, 2016 11:07 AM
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Subject: [Tweeters] Wilson's Phalaropes at Monroe Prison Farm pond

This morning at about 10:00, I saw two Wilson's Phalaropes at the prison farm pond north of Duvall. They were 5 or 10 feet offshore on the far side of the main pond, toward the western end. I didn't see them do their whirling act, but they were actively feeding and swimming around. One looked to me like a male transitioning into breeding plumage (the back of its neck was reddish), and the other one was pretty much in winter plumage still.

I looked for the Yellow-headed Blackbirds that have been hanging around there this past week, and I only saw one ever land on the power pole they have favored, but I did see about a half dozen of them at one point, on a lower wire/pole to the east of that favored pole. I've seen them several times in the last week, and I have yet to see one I would call a mature male. The males I have seen have varying amounts of yellow, but all have had black on the back of their necks still, which to me means they hatched last year and have yet to come into their full breeding plumage. Maybe that's normal for mature males, though, at this time of year.

Barry Brugman
Kirkland



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