Here it is next to some Wilson's Phalaropes. This was taken through my 300mm lens at more than 100 yards.
Scoping some more I picked out a smaller darker phalarope with gleaming white forehead and a black eyeline. It also had paler streaks runing down the dark grey back. Red-necked Phalarope! All three phalaropes in one day! Unfortunately it was too far away for a photo. Then I found a third non-Wilson's that was pale and looked like another Red but it was just too far away to do anything with and my eyes were hurting after a couple of hours of squinting through the scope at high power at small birds a couple of hundred yards away bobbing up and down in a stiffening wind. So I gave it up for the day.
This morning I gave it another go. This time the phalaropes were way out again but the wind had died down so I studied them a couple more hours. I refound the Red and three Red-necks. I was about ready to leave when Mary Gustafson showed up. As we watched them they swam to the west where the lake is a bit more narrow and we were able to get a bit closer. Through the scope we were able to note the differences and it was soon easy to distinguish the individual birds. One of them was a paler bird that was looked like a Red but was smaller. The Red-necks also have a smaller head. Here's a Red and a Red-necked.
Here's a pale and a darker Red-necked Phalarope.
In flight the Red-necked is much smaller than the Wilson's.
I'll try for better pics later this week sometime. As we were getting ready to leave Mary picked out a distant Dunlin. County year bird! Here's my list from yesterday.
Greater White-fronted Goose 50
Snow Goose 19
Ross's Goose 1
Gadwall 6
American Wigeon 1
Northern Shoveler 15
Green-winged Teal 3
Ruddy Duck 20
Wild Turkey 3
Eared Grebe 70
Turkey Vulture 3
Red-shouldered Hawk 1
Crested Caracara 1
American Coot 12
Killdeer 5
American Avocet 40
Greater Yellowlegs 1
Lesser Yellowlegs 20
Least Sandpiper 175
Stilt Sandpiper 1
Wilson's Phalarope 155
Red-necked Phalarope 1
Red Phalarope 2
Laughing Gull 20
Common Ground-Dove 12
Golden-fronted Woodpecker 4
Ladder-backed Woodpecker 2
Eastern Phoebe 5
Great Kiskadee 2
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher 1
White-eyed Vireo 1
Barn Swallow 100
Cactus Wren 1
Bewick's Wren 1
House Wren 10
Marsh Wren 1
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 2
Northern Mockingbird 3
Long-billed Thrasher 1
American Pipit 6
Orange-crowned Warbler 7
Nashville Warbler 2
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 1
Common Yellowthroat 1
Lincoln's Sparrow 10
Northern Cardinal 1
Pyrrhuloxia 3
Red-winged Blackbird 250
Great-tailed Grackle 25