Date: Sun, 28 Sep 2003 19:53:40 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Walter Ellison Subject: Eating (Wilson's) phalarope - a cautionary tale MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Hi All, Nancy and I went birding this afternoon and made it our business to have = another long, careful look at the phalarope at the John Hanson Rd Pond. = Healthy skepticism is a valuable spur to learning and a servant of the = truth. On third viewing under overcast conditions the bird still wasn't quite = right somehow - as either Red-necked or Wilson's. It still seemed rather = small, but the sheer extent of gray on the crown and nape was becoming = troubling. Other trouble signs for the Red-neck ID were our inability, = under the flatter, less bright lighting, to see any pale marks on the = mantle, and a realization that the "black" mark through the eye now = definitely looked more like dark gray. Upon checking my Friday afternoon = notes I found all of these factors clearly indicated in my sketch and = annotations. Nancy and I decided to watch the bird until it did = something to show it's wings, tail pattern, or leg color. This took = about an hour. Eventually the bird started interacting agressively with = the ducks around it spreading its wings and jumping into the air = briefly. The bird has no wing-stripe, and has a white rump and pale gray = tail. The underwing pattern was mostly whitish with a smudgy dark line = at the base of the secondaries and inner primaries, and diffuse gray = tips to the flight feathers. The best illustration of this pattern is by = Killian Mullarney in the Princeton "Birds of Europe" although Mullarney = makes the underwing look too extensively dark. So the bird is a smallish = WILSON'S. The EARED GREBE was still around - I agree with Bob on this = one too, it's a molting adult. Note that it also took an hour before the = grebe made its appearance from behind the soybeans screening the near = shore. I am fascinated by this whole episode - I believe my mistake was trying = too hard to not "force" an ID of Wilson's on the bird because I did not = wish to wedge an addition into my Kent year list. I had seen a more = classic juvenile Red-necked Phalarope on the previous Sunday. I reasoned = that it was "too good to be true" to see a different phalarope species = so soon, Red-necked and Wilson's are both considered late in New England = by the end of September - but Wilson's the moreso (I was guided by prior = experience here), and I saw the bird in poor light on Friday morning = when I made the original ID - this made me tend to stick with my first = impression. I think the bird may be at the small extreme for Wilson's. I = was not the only observer that considered the bird "too small" to be a = Wilson's. Oh well, education is sometimes unpleasant, humility is hard = won, and the truth sometimes hurts. My definition of an expert is: = "Someone who realizes how much they do not know." Good Birding, Walter Ellison 23460 Clarissa Road Chestertown, MD 21620 phone: 410-778-9568 e-mail: rossgull@crosslink.net "A person who is looking for something doesn't travel very fast" - E. B. = White (in "Stuart Little") =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D =========================================================================