The Red-necked Phalarope (Phalaropus lobatus) is a common spring migrant along the northern California coast (Yocom and Harris 1975), where it commonly feeds along drift lines at sea and on sheltered coastal waters such as sewage oxidation ponds (Gerstenberg 1979) and rainwater ponds in coastal woodlands and fields.
On 6 May 1969, 103 dead Red-necked Phalaropes were recovered at Trinidad, Humboldt County, California, where they had struck power lines stretched between the shoreline and a coastal headland. The gizzards of these birds were stored in formalin until they could be examined.