Just in time, the Phalarope

Following a charming (read: sarcasm) day, I managed to squeeze in a turn around Brigantine NWR late this afternoon and early evening. I guess I must've been good, because literally as I pulled up to the first observation tower at Gull Pond and popped my trunk to retrieve my scope, a nearby birder announced she had a Wilson's Phalarope.

And even better, she really did!

And a female, in spring. A fine fair thing, a female phalarope in spring.

She was most cooperative, and climbing the tower to escape the no-see-ums, I managed a few dark photos-it was a very rainy day, which is fine, since it was far from cold, we need the rain desparately, and I was looking at a female Wilson's Phalarope.

An interesting size comparison/illusion with a drake Blue-winged Teal

They fed in each other's wake for quite a while. I suppose each was kicking up and filter feeding/picking after their own fashion.

"What are you lookin' at?"

Otherwise the tide was low, spreading the birds far and wide, and the mist was heavy. Revealing not so much, but for lots and lots of breeding plumaged Dunlin, Short-billed Dowitchers, both Yellowlegs, and courting Willets, and laughing pairs of Gull-billed Terns, and some hunting Merlins.

My first White-rumped Sandpiper, ice-cream cone shaped, and sporting fine darted pin-stripes on it's sides with a rusty cap and ears was a welcome addition to the year list, and just on the early side of on-time.

A breeding plumaged Cattle Egret was also a nice tick. These pedestrian little egrets are getting less and less common every year, on this, the northern edge of their range A not unusual boom...then bust scenario for recent colonizers and range extenders.

And other than a Bald Eagle, some handsome Whimbrel, and a raspy voiced Caspian Tern or two, this lingering Snow Goose caught my eye. Undoubtedly a cripple, or with a belly full of lead, it is always incongruous to see one among green, in May.

There is nothing more restorative than watching natty migrant shorebirds, sleek courting terns, Pill-will-willeting pied-winged Willet pairs, and a sprouting saltmarsh for a couple of hours on a rainy Wednesday in the beginning of May. Even the bloodsucking no-see-ums remind one of the vital.