Rob Hilton has already posted the big news from Hains Pt yesterday
(Tuesday, 5/26), but I figured a quick recap was in order.  I arrived at
the north end of Hains Pt. on my way home from work, at about 4:40pm.  I
parked at the tennis courts and scanned the north end of the golf course
from Buckeye Dr.  With all the rain there were several very large pools
of water and a fair number of birds (a very encouraging sign).  There
are also a lot of trees and hills blocking one's view, so it's necessary
to scan from several different vantage points along Buckeye.  On my
first scan I immediately found the GLOSSY IBIS feeding on the east edge
of the biggest pool.  A closer look confirmed that it was a Glossy and
not a White-faced, with the thin blue line along the upper edge of the
facial skin.  Other birds seen from this vantage point were 1 male WOOD
DUCK, 1 SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER, lots of MALLARDS, CANADA GEESE,
RING-BILLED GULLS, GRACKLES & STARLINGS.  Certainly not an "amazing
assortment", and the lack of shorebirds was disappointing, but seeing
the ibis and sandpiper were nice.  So then I walked a little to the west
to get another angle on the ponds, and BAM! there was the RED-NECKED
PHALAROPE.  The bird was by itself, actively feeding in the shallow
water.  On further reflection I think it was an adult female.  The white
throat stood out from the dark head and gray breast, I just wasn't
seeing a lot of red on the sides of the neck.  But overall it was too
dark in the head and neck for it to be a male.  Also visible were two
light brown tracks down the back, as well as the thin black bill.  By
this point it was about 4:50pm.  I immediately phoned Rob, and then
watched the bird a little more.  I was able to get a few poor
phonescoped shots of the bird, and I think at least 1 is definitive.

I had an appointment later in the evening, so I couldn't stick around,
but I managed to squeeze in a quick spin around the point.  Not much on
the rest of the course, save for 1 AMERICAN BLACK DUCK.

This morning (Wednesday, 5/27) I went back and met up with Rob.  I got
there at about 6:20am, and Rob said he had been there since 6:00 or
earlier.  The water levels had receded dramatically, and the number of
birds were way down.  Neither Rob nor I found any shorebirds of any
type, but Rob relocated the Glossy Ibis on a pond closer to the bathroom
(SE corner of the north section of the golf course).  I couldn't see it
from Buckeye Dr.  He also saw a GREAT EGRET, which was gone by the time
I arrived.  Otherwise it was pretty quiet, so I headed to work.

I would like to download the picture from my cell phone, but have no
idea how to do that.  When I hit "send" it wants to send it to another
phone, not to a computer.  If anyone knows how to do this, please let me
know offline.  Thanks!

Good birding,
Paul Pisano
Arlington, VA