Under the Pandemic: Red Phalarope Crushing

What does one do when a bird you have not seen in 8 years persists within 20 minutes of your home? Carpe diem. You CRUSH it. 

On Thursday, my schedule afforded me a couple of hours to spend with this gloriously cooperative pelagic phalarope. 

The lighting was much more favorable. The weather, unseasonably warm and divine.

Check out that lobed foot!

The freeze frames afforded by photography allowed me a closer look at the deep" feeding behavior of this bird. 

According to Cornell's Birds of the World, deep feeding is more characteristic of the females of this species. Does the hint of rust on this juvenile coupled with the deep feeding behavior hint at this being a female? Do juvenile males show the red washed throat? Given this species exhibits reversed sexual dimorphism one would expect the young males to be drabber (and perhaps without any color in the throat???) Lacking experience with this species it's all simply speculative thought on my part. A cursory dig in my guides and online did not address my questions.

As of this writing, today marks the second day the bird has not been observed. Previously it went MIA for a single day since it was first observed nearly a week ago. 

The next few days will tell if it has migrated versus simply shifting around locally on Lake Mendota. I was expecting to see it reported again today which did not occur. Perhaps it has moved on.