diff --git a/CHANGES.txt b/CHANGES.txt
index 8bea2e04b7a..cbaea0d2e19 100644
--- a/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/CHANGES.txt
@@ -554,6 +554,8 @@ Release 0.21.0 - Unreleased
                (Nicolas Spiegelberg via Stack)
    HBASE-3047  If new master crashes, restart is messy
    HBASE-3054  Remore TestEmptyMetaInfo; it doesn't make sense any more.
+   HBASE-3056  Fix ordering in ZKWatcher constructor to prevent weird race
+               condition
 
   IMPROVEMENTS
    HBASE-1760  Cleanup TODOs in HTable
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/zookeeper/ZooKeeperWatcher.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/zookeeper/ZooKeeperWatcher.java
index a8d08282fcd..014e9fb732f 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/zookeeper/ZooKeeperWatcher.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/zookeeper/ZooKeeperWatcher.java
@@ -95,12 +95,12 @@ public class ZooKeeperWatcher implements Watcher {
       Abortable abortable)
   throws IOException {
     this.quorum = ZKConfig.getZKQuorumServersString(conf);
-    this.zooKeeper = ZKUtil.connect(conf, quorum, this, descriptor);
     // Identifier will get the sessionid appended later below down when we
     // handle the syncconnect event.
     this.identifier = descriptor;
     this.abortable = abortable;
     setNodeNames(conf);
+    this.zooKeeper = ZKUtil.connect(conf, quorum, this, descriptor);
     try {
       // Create all the necessary "directories" of znodes
       // TODO: Move this to an init method somewhere so not everyone calls it?