Subsequently, four additional records were added to the Tanzanian Atlas data base

• Main Author: Neil E. Baker
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2012
• Subjects: Indian; Philomachus pugnax; Ruff
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.1029.190; http://www.ajol.info/index.php/scopus/article/download/108337/98156/

Then, early in 2012, unprecedented numbers were recorded at two coastal sites. On 30 January Mark and Alison Muller counted 25 birds on salt pans north of the Wami River on the edge of Saadani NP. Then on 5 February at least 28 birds were found on the salt pans north of Bagamoyo, the site that held the single bird in January 2005. The first six birds were found feeding, not by moving in tight circles but simply swimming and rapidly inserting their bills just below the surface of the flooded pans. Minutes later successive groups of three, two and four birds were noted resting along the banks of adjacent pans. Within 30 minutes a larger flock of 13 birds was found, two feeding in a similar manner to the first group, the others resting on exposed substrate. A small flock of Marsh Sandpipers Tringa stagnatalis and a single Ruff Philomachus pugnax were observed feeding in the same manner as the phalaropes among a larger flock of Black-winged Stilts Himantopus himantopus. The stilts were also catching prey just below the surface but were tall enough to wade in the shallow water. All 28 phalaropes were still present on 11 March. These phalaropes were presumably from the wintering population known to occur well offshore in the northwest Indian Ocean (Cramp 1983). Their unprecedented numbers suggest either weather or food related movements of this population away from their traditional wintering grounds.