[Birdtalk] 09Nov07-Lakefront: RED PHALAROPE, Horned Grebe

[Tim Avery]

Thanks to Kris Purdy for posting my report of the RED PHALAROPE at the Great
Salt Lake State Park Marina (a.k.a. Salt Air Marina).  When I initially saw the
bird, I wasn;t sure what it was.  I was looking through binoculars and the
first thing that came to mind was Little Gull, based off overall appearance.  I
ran back to my car and grabbed my freshly fixed scope and cameras and made my
way back to the observation deck.  I relocated the bird, right as I was calling
Kris, and stumbled for a second as I told here I wasn't sure what it was,
either a Little Gull or a Red Phalarope.  I know, your thinking, how could the
two be confused?  The bird was alone in the ripple on the lake and on my first
pass I thought it was quite far away.  But it was actually only about 150 yards
out.  In reality the birds are quite similar in size, only a couple inches in
length.  And the thing that struck me as odd, was that the bird appeared to
have a black streak through the wing, like a Little Gull.  Luckily the bird
soon floated out of the ripple onto the glassy surface of the lake, giving the
clear appearance of a RED PHALAROPE.  It then took a short flight only helping
reaffirm the initial thought.  I then called several others hoping a few others
would be able to see the bird.  Over the next 45 minutes I never took my eye
off the bird as it continued feeding, and then flying, further and further
west.  Eventually Jack Binch showed up, and was able to get a look at about 350
or so yards away.  By the time Colby Neuman arrived the bird was at least 400
yards away, and only identifiable as a "phalarope".  We soon lost the bird in
the sea of grebes, just before Steve Carr and Pat Jividen arrived.  Colby being
the ardent observer he is, finally relocated the bird, well over 400 yards out,
and showed the bird to both Steve and Pat.  Soon after the Sommerfeld's arrived
and got brief glimpses at the speck, before it took a final flight out of
sight!  Here are a couple of pathetic digiscopes:

http://timaverybirding.com/photos/nove07/reph_01.jpg
http://timaverybirding.com/photos/nove07/reph_02.jpg

Other birds of note from this afternoon around the county.

Decker Lake 12:35-12:45pm

 1 WESTERN GREBE
 2 Greater Yellowlegs
 2 Lesser Yellowlegs

Lee Kay Ponds 12:55-1:30pm

 1 HORNED GREBE (on west pond)
 1 American Avocet
 25 HERRING GULL
 2 Common Merganser
 1 RED-BREASTED MERGANSER
 18 Lesser Scaup
 5 Ring-necked Duck
 16 BUFFLEHEAD
 3 Common Goldeneye

Great Salt Lake SP/Saltair 1:45 -3:45pm

 1 RED PHALAROPE (as mentioned above)
 2 RED-NECKED PHALAROPE (flyby hugging the shoreline, getting pretty late)
 1 HERRING GULL
 10 American Pipit

The hoardes that came to see the the phalarope:
http://timaverybirding.com/photos/nove07/birders_01.jpg

Okay thats a lie, they were tourists learning about the Great Salt Lake.

A quick Google Search produced this image of a Red Phalarope with the black
markings I saw, a relief, as this was something I hadn't seen in this species
before (all 5 birds...HA).

http://www.gpnc.org/images/jpegs/animals/PhalaropeRnb.jpg

Cheers

Tim
Salt Lake City, UT
tanager at timaverybirding.com
http://www.timaverybirding.com
http://www.timavery.com