[mou] RED PHALAROPE (NOT RED-NECKED) - MOU Pelagic

[Tom Auer]

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Well, somehow it happened. A whole boatload (literally) of experienced
birders missed the boat (wow, two puns in a row) on the Phalarope ID. I
mostly blame myself, since I first called it Red-necked. Drew Smith was
right in questioning the identification early on, but with only Sibley
aboard, we missed a crucial age and molt of Red Phalarope, documented well
only in Nat. Geo and Hayman, Marchant, and Prater. We can attribute this ne=
w
identification to the sharp eye of Ben Fritchman, who critically reviewed
the photos from today, alterting me of the possibility that this bird was
really a RED PHALAROPE!

The bird, which can be seen well on my website, thanks to Scott Meyer, is a
molting juvenile Red Phalarope. With no reference to bill size in the open
water and seeing a heavily streaked back in the heat of the moment, I
immeadiately pigeonholed it as a winter adult Red-necked, not considering
other ages or phases. But, as Ben pointed out, this bird contains a
relatively hefty bill (compare with Ben's Red-necked in Morrison County on
Recently Seen), with noticable pale on the base of the bill. As well, the
pattern of molt on the back nicely matches the drawing in Nat. Geo. The
feather replacement pattern is correct for Red Phalarope, not Red-necked. A=
s
well, a light buffy wash on the neck and throat is visible in our bird,
which is not part of a winter or molting juvenile Red-necked plumage. Also
of note is the pattern of the eye line, in the Red (and our bird) the edges
are poorly defined and form a more circular pattern around the eye, whereas
in a Red-necked the pattern is crisp and sharply demarcated, creating a mor=
e
lateral formation through the eye.

So, we were wrong. This time for the better! Temporally, this sighting does
make a little more sense, as we were close to setting a late North record
for Red-necked Phalarope, but Red fits in perfectly at this time of year.

Tom Auer

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Well, somehow it happened. A whole boatload (literally) of experienced
birders missed the boat (wow, two puns in a row) on the Phalarope ID. I
mostly blame myself, since I first called it Red-necked. Drew Smith was
right in questioning the identification early on, but with only Sibley
aboard, we missed a crucial age and molt of Red Phalarope, documented
well only in Nat. Geo and  Hayman, Marchant, and Prater. We can
attribute this new identification to the sharp eye of Ben Fritchman,
who critically reviewed the photos from today, alterting me of the
possibility that this bird was really a RED PHALAROPE!<br>
<br>
The bird, which can be seen well on my website, thanks to Scott Meyer,
is a molting juvenile Red Phalarope. With no reference to bill size in
the open water and seeing a heavily streaked back in the heat of the
moment, I immeadiately pigeonholed it as a winter adult Red-necked, not
considering other ages or phases. But, as Ben pointed out, this bird
contains a relatively hefty bill (compare with Ben's Red-necked in
Morrison County on Recently Seen), with noticable pale on the base of
the bill. As well, the pattern of molt on the back nicely matches the
drawing in Nat. Geo. The feather replacement pattern is correct for Red
Phalarope, not Red-necked. As well, a light buffy wash on the neck and
throat is visible in our bird, which is not part of a winter or molting
juvenile Red-necked plumage. Also of note is the pattern of the eye
line, in the Red (and our bird) the edges are poorly defined and form a
more circular pattern around the eye, whereas in a Red-necked the
pattern is crisp and sharply demarcated, creating a more lateral
formation through the eye.<br>
<br>
So, we were wrong. This time for the better! Temporally, this sighting
does make a little more sense, as we were close to setting a late North
record for Red-necked Phalarope, but Red fits in perfectly at this time
of year.<br>
<br>
Tom Auer<br>
<br>
<br>


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