Red Phalarope on the Berkeley Campus, Alameda County, California
Red Phalarope on the Berkeley Campus, Alameda County, California
On the stormy afternoon of October 30, 1937, a Red Phalarope (Phalaropus fulicarius) was noted at the southeast corner of the Botanical Gardens in Strawberry Canyon, on the upper campus, University of California, Berkeley. The bird circled above me on stiffly outstretched wings and alighted in a grassy field fifty yards distant. Bush-tits and White-crowned Sparrows near-by had voiced alarm, thinking it a hawk. The phalarope hobbled about at my feet, continually fluffing its feathers and occasionally rquatting on its belly in the wet grass. Its weak and emaciated condition permitted an easy capture and it is now a skin (male, number 189) in my collection. This is the first record for the Berkeley campus.
Joe T. Marshall, Jr.
Berkeley, California, December 7, 1937
