RARE BIRD REPORT #: 69-B-06
SPECIES: Red Phalarope
DATE OF SIGHTING: October 19, 2006
Mike Haldeman
2501 E. Sherman Ave #35
Coeur d’Alene, ID 83814
208.818.7879
OTHER OBSERVERS: None
DATE REPORT PREPARED: November 18, 2006 from notes taken on the day of the sighting.
LOCALITY OF OBSERVATION: South Park, on the south side of the Spokane River just west of Spokane Street in Post Falls, Kootenai Co. (See Svingen and Dumroese, p. 46)
HABITAT: The bird flew in from the east, landed in the middle of the river (which is particularly wide here) and flew off to the west following the river towards Washington.
SIGHTING DURATION, CONDITIONS, & EQUIPMENT USED: I was scanning the river for waterfowl, loons, etc when the single bird flew through my field of view. I followed it, watched it land on the water for about 5 seconds, and then fly off to the west and out of sight. It was an overcast day with light rain, but luckily as the bird flew in and perched on the water and for the first few seconds of its departing flight I was looking at the bird against the backdrop of the river and the land on the opposite bank so I had good looks at the bird. It was all very fast, a couple seconds watching the bird fly in, maybe five seconds on the water, and another five seconds watching it fly away until it was backlit by the clouds. The entire observation was through a Kowa scope with 20-60 zoom eyepiece.
DID YOU TAKE NOTES/CONSULT A FIELD GUIDE? I took notes immediately after the sighting and then consulted both the Sibley and National Geographic field guides. I later consulted Handbook of the Birds of the World and Shorebirds: An Identification Guide (from the Helm series) but these offered no additional, relevant information.
DESCRIPTION/BEHAVIOR: When the bird first flew into the scope view my first feeling was one of confusion. The very first impression was of a small tern, but that did not make any sense (nor did it really fit what I was seeing.) Before I had time to berate my ID deficiencies however, the bird landed on the water and instantly all confusion disappeared (at least to the genus level.) As soon as the bird landed on the water it began swimming in a small counterclockwise circle and probing the water inside the circle with its bill. The entire five seconds the bird was on the water it continued circling and probing. At this point I knew the bird was a phalarope from the behavior so I immediately looked to the bill. I saw a dark patch on the face behind the eye and then concentrated completely on the bill – it appeared all dark but not "needle thin." The straight bill was similar in size and shape to Baird’s Sandpiper but seemed a little longer. The bird then took off and as it flew away the bold pattern was striking – it had a bold white stripe along the base of the flight feathers, especially the secondaries. The remainder of the flight feathers was dark as were the primary coverts. The rest of the upperparts (mantle, scapulars, and secondary coverts) were very pale gray with no streaking or scaling visible. The overall effect was similar to, but more striking then, a basic-plumaged adult Sanderling as the bird flew away. I also made a note that the bird did not have a white rump, but I have no details about the tail.
HOW AND WHEN DID YOU POSITIVELY IDENTIFY THE BIRD, AND WHAT CLINCHED THE ID FOR YOU? The behavior of the bird clinched the ID to the Phalaropus genus. I have seen other Scolopacids swim before (yellowlegs, very rarely) but I’ve never seen any other species outside Phalaropus consistently swim in a circle while probing the water inside the circle with their bill. In the very few instances I’ve seen other sandpipers swim it was in shallow water and they seemed to be crossing a small stretch of slightly deeper water to reach another feeding area. The bird I am reporting landed in the middle of this wide stretch of the Spokane River which I assume is at least several feet deep, but I am not sure. At any rate, it was too deep to be used by "ordinary" sandpiper feeding methods and far from shallow water.
Among the phalaropes I knew the lack of a white rump, the dark face patch, and the wing stripe and pattern easily ruled out Wilson’s. And upon consulting the Sibley and NGS field guides I realized the completely plain, very pale gray back and thicker, "non-needle-like" bill were traits of Red Phalarope and not Red-necked.
HOW DID YOU ELIMINATE SIMILAR SPECIES? As mentioned above, the thicker bill and plain, pale gray back are the main characteristics that lead me to Red Phalarope over Red-necked. The bird also appeared larger and bulkier than I would expect for a Red-necked. I mentioned the all dark bill which would seem to favor Red-necked after a glance at Sibley, but in NGS and also Handbook of the Birds of the World and Shorebirds An Identification Guide it seems that outside the breeding season Red Phalaropes usually have an all dark bill although they often have a pale spot at the base of the lower mandible as in Sibley. The lateness of this record might also favor Red over Red-necked Phalarope but at best, this would only be supportive evidence. (Shirley Sturts has an October 27, 1979 Red-necked Phalarope record from Genessee, but all others are at least a month earlier.)
Wilson’s Phalarope is easily ruled out by the brilliant wing stripe and overall wing pattern, the lack of a white rump, and dark face patch. I mentioned that the bird looked similar to a Sanderling in flight, but this bird did not show the dark leading edge to the inner part of the upperwing. Also the dark face patch should rule out Sanderling as well as the behavior. The arguments used for Sanderling (face patch, behavior) can also be applied to any of the small Calidris sandpipers among other characteristics.
WHAT IS YOUR EXPERIENCE WITH THIS (AND SIMILAR) SPECIES? My experience with Red Phalarope is very limited. My few personal sightings have been far off the coasts of CA, WA, NC, and Peru on organized pelagic trips (semi-organized in the case of Peru.) On all of these occasions my main concern was keeping down breakfast, but before any of my pelagic trips part of my routine is to review Red and Red-necked Phalarope identification. Since it has been a little over a year since my last ocean adventure the field marks were not fresh in my mind, although I at least remembered what to look for. But throughout my years living in the west I’ve seen thousands of the other phalaropes, especially in my year living in UT where Red-necked Phalaropes gather in huge numbers in late summer on the Great Salt Lake. And in most of the small lakes in southern AZ and NM, where I have spent several years, both Wilson’s and Red-necked Phalaropes are often encountered in late summer and early fall. I think my limited experience with Red Phalarope, all of it far out to see under less than optimal physiological conditions, is part of the reason the first appearance of this bird stunned me. I don’t use this type of logic in bird identification, but having seen so many of the other phalaropes and sandpipers, I doubt they would have elicited such surprise. (But I’ve been surprised by very common birds before so probably shouldn’t have mentioned this.)
DESCRIBE YOUR GENERAL BIRDING EXPERIENCE: I have been birding seriously, at times fanatically, since 1992. That time has been spread throughout the Lower 48 states with a strong bias on the southwest. I’ve also spent over two years birding abroad, mostly in South and Central America but a little on each of the habitable continents.
Unfortunately I was not able to obtain any photos, video, or audio of this bird.