my first Phalarope

I like watching Poppy-dog chase crows at the beach.   I try to call her in when she wants to chase the  Whimbrel's or curlew's or other plover's though -  and she listens pretty well and seems to understand that those birds aren't for the chasing.

Poppy seemed to understand the significance of the situation yesterday when a single Red Necked Phalarope was piddling around the shoreline, moving unhurriedly along with us as we walked up the beach with some neighbor friends.  She stayed close with me as we watched the bird poke around about 20 feet away.  

The bird was smaller than I had imagined it, but was looking real nice - in almost full breeding plumage.  Wish I had a picture to share - but we were lucky to see this bird.  I've never seen one on the beach since we've moved here - and I never see any reports of folks seeing them on the beaches here.   I think it was odd for it to have been on the beach, solitary on shore like that.  It did swim around for a bit before it took off, back out to sea.   WOW!

ps.  a horse swam out to sea this week from the same spot where I saw the Phalarope.  The prized Arabian swam out 2.5 miles before the Coast Guard coaxed it back to shore.  Pete and Kev, maybe that crazy guy we talked to at Coal Oil point was right, maybe there is some kind of cosmic crystal out there in the Santa Barbara channel and all of the animals are starting to get kooky about it.   The truth is out there