Red Phalarope? Red Knot?

[Christa Godfrey]

On June 25th, at Hayward Regional Shoreline in Hayward, CA, in a pond in the marshes just north of Winton Ave entrance, there was a mixed flock of non-migrating Marbled Godwits and Willets, plus a couple Avocets and Black necked Stilts. I had seen about 20 Red necked Phalaropes in this pond a few days before, so I'm pretty sure the small white with  red neck birds in this group are them. There are also some cinnamon colored small plump birds mixed in. Red Phalarope? Red Knot? other? Sorry photo is not great. The Red necked Phalaropes where right near the path when I was on my bike, with no camera. Of course, when I returned with 400mm lens a few days later, the raft of birds was quite far out. Hopefully you can zoom on this image, or I can add a cropped version...

It was a very high tide, and very windy - conditions in which you can sometimes find exotics along this shoreline.

Thanks in advance for any input!

[akiley]

I see: Marbled Godwits, a Black-necked Stilt, an American Avocet, Western Willets, at least a few Dowitchers (look like Long-billed), and a group of Wilson's Phalaropes on the right side.

[blackburnian]

What are we calling the cinnamon colored bird just to the left of the avocet?

[akiley]

24 minutes ago, blackburnian said:

What are we calling the cinnamon colored bird just to the left of the avocet?

Dowitcher.

[Christa Godfrey]

Thanks Akiley. Good call on the Dowitcher. I went back yesterday and a  group of mixed shorebirds was in the same pond, including a Dowitcher in breeding plumage. It was super windy and the Phalaropes were nowhere to be seen.  What made you say Wilson's rather than Red necked? Red necked Phalaropes had been reported recently in that area by a couple of eBird listers. Wilson's would be rare for our coast, though I guess not impossible. I had seen a group of 20 or so Phalaropes in that pond on my bike earlier - assumed they were the Red necked ones reported a couple days prior, also as a group of 20...