Dane County Life Bird! Red Phalarope (Phalaropus fulicarius), discovered reported on the 16th by area birder Neil Gilbert. It was still present at Warner Park Beach today, so I got to go see and photograph it. It's county bird somewhere around 295, I'm not sure because I've been pretty lax about tracking my county records. Anyway, the last time I observed this species was 15 years ago at North Point, Milwaukee. Apparently, this species was last recorded in Dane County in 1935. The previous (and first-ever) record was in 1899 by―and get this―Neil Gilbert.
ADDENDUM: Awww! The "Gilbert Factor" was indeed too good to be true. I just saw on eBird that the Red Phalarope was first found by Tim Van Deelen, who emailed Neil Gilbert a photograph of the discovery. The story was reported to me incorrectly.
All images © 2020 Mike McDowell