As I reach the pond, I approach slowly, attempting to remain concealed behind some trees. And then I see it—the year’s first Solitary Sandpiper, feeding in the shallows.
As we say goodbye to spring and welcome the heat of summer, we must also bid farewell to the birds that keep even the most advanced birders turning the pages of their field guides: the shorebirds. Shorebirds are a large reason spring birding is so exciting—though short-lived!
Red-necked Phalaropes are the smallest and daintiest of the three phalarope species (Wilson’s and Red Phalaropes), it spends up to 9 months of the year at sea, riding on a raft of dense belly plumage and feeding on tiny planktonic invertebrates.