Jeff Bouton

Local migration has been nearly non-existent in my home county, so I decided to make a roadtrip south to search for a Red-necked Phalarope that has been reliably seen over the past 5 days. The 1.5 hour drive passed quickly enough and I arrived and quickly found the confiding little bird for great views and watched some fun behaviors including paddling around and feeding (see invertebrate captured in photo one), then at one point it craned its head to the side spying a migrant raptor overhead and laying as flat and still as possible after (photos 3 & 4 respectively). I didn’t see the raptor in question as I was busily digiscoping but there had been both a Cooper’s Hawk & a Peregrine Falcon I’d seen moments before. This was my 586th #digiscoped bird species for 2026 (and counting). All photos were captured with iPhone through the Kowa #PROMINAR TSN-66A spotting scope. #kowascoping #phalarope #rarebird