About the most fun I have had birding this year was a
sighting of Red-necked Phalarope at Austin Springs, a local birding spot on the
Watauga River in Johnson City, Tennessee.
It was a Monday afternoon, and I was at work when I received a call from
a friend alerting me the bird had just been found. Earlier that day three Snowy Egrets, which
are rare in northeast Tennessee, had been reported at Austin Springs. Tom McNeil and Cathy Myers went to see the
Snowy Egrets, and Cathy noticed a small bird swimming erratically upriver from
the bridge. It turned out to be a
Red-necked Phalarope, also rare in northeast Tennessee. Word went out.
By the time I got off work and out to Austin Springs
bridge, all of the local birders had already left and apparently so had the
phalarope. As I was viewing the Snowy
Egrets through my spotting scope, I saw my wife and daughter in the distance
around the bend in the river. They have
a milk weed plot along the river that they monitor for Monarch butterflies. As I was pleased to see them, I called them
on their cellular phone. My daughter
answered and immediately asked, “Dad, where are you? The whole bird club is over here looking at
some bird.” Needless to say, I rushed
right over to find the local birding community enjoying the rare sight. We celebrated with high-fives all around to the
embarrassment of my daughter. I am
heartened that, although sometimes competitive, birding is not a zero-sum
game.
Another Red-necked Phalarope, AK, June 2013
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