Red-necked Phalarope
Phalaropus lobatus
Fairly small shorebird known for spinning frantically on water to stir up small invertebrates. Note thin, sharp bill. Breeding females are brighter and more contrasting than males: note white throat, reddish stripe on neck, and buffy stripes on back. Breeding males are duller, especially on head and neck. Nonbreeding is much less colorful: gray above and white below with streaky-looking back and black ear patch. Juveniles have blackish upperparts with buffy stripes, and a black ear patch. Breeds on Arctic tundra. Primarily found on the open ocean during migration and winter; also occurs on lakes, especially in western North America. Often in small flocks, but can gather in incredibly large numbers especially during fall migration. In migration mixes with Wilson’s Phalarope on inland lakes; Red-necked is smaller, more compact, and shorter-billed. On the ocean, frequently mixes with Red Phalarope, the only other oceanic shorebird; Red-necked is best distinguished by smaller size, thinner bill, and slightly darker, streakier-looking upperparts.
Identification
The red-necked phalarope is about 18 cm (7.1 in) in length, with lobed toes and a straight, fine bill. The breeding female is predominantly dark grey above, with a chestnut neck and upper breast, black face and white throat. They have a white wing stripe which helps distinguish this bird from the similar Wilson's phalarope. The breeding male is a duller version of the female. They have lobed toes to assist with their swimming. Young birds are grey and brown above, with buff underparts and a black patch through the eye. In winter, the plumage is essentially grey above and white below, but the black eyepatch is always present. They have a sharp call described as a whit or twit.
Taxonomy
In 1743, the English naturalist George Edwards included an illustration and a description of the red-necked phalarope in the first volume of his A Natural History of Uncommon Birds. He used the English name "The coot-footed tringa". Edwards based his hand-coloured etching on a specimen that had been collected off the coast of Maryland. When in 1758, the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the tenth edition, he placed the red-necked phalarope with the phalaropes and sandpipers in the genus Tringa. Linnaeus included a brief description, coined the binomial name Tringa lobata and cited Edwards' work. The red-necked phalarope is now placed in the genus Phalaropus that was introduced by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760. The English and genus names come through French phalarope and scientific Latin Phalaropus from Ancient Greek phalaris, "coot", and pous, "foot". Coots and phalaropes both have lobed toes. The specific lobatus is Neo-Latin for "lobed". The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.
- Scientific name
- Phalaropus lobatus
- Authority
- (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Order
- Charadriiformes
- Family
- Scolopacidae
- Genus
- Phalaropus
Range and habitat
- Breeding range
- NA, PAL : mostly low Arctic to subarctic Holarctic tundra and alpine tundra: s Greenland, Iceland, Scotland (rare), n Scandinavia, and Arctic and subarctic Russia to Kamchatka, Kuril and Commander is.; Aleutian Is., Arctic and subarctic Alaska and Canada
- Non-breeding range
- to tropical and subtropical coastal waters and coasts: Arabian Sea, Persian Gulf, and Bay of Bengal; seas of Indonesian Arch., off n, w New Guinea and Bismarck Arch.; and se North Pacific coasts of w Mexico and Central America to Peru and Galápagos
- Migration
- Complete migrants
Behavior
In the three phalarope species, females are larger and more brightly coloured than males. The females pursue and fight over males, and will defend their mate from other females until the clutch is complete and the male begins incubation. The males perform all incubation and chick-rearing activities, while the females may attempt to find another mate. If a male loses his eggs to predation, he may re-pair with his original mate or a new female to try again. Once it becomes too late in the breeding season to start new nests, females begin their southward migration, leaving the males to incubate the eggs and look after the young.<p>The nest is a grass-lined depression at the top of a small mound. Clutch size is usually four splotchy olive-buff eggs, but can be fewer. Incubation is about 20 days. The young mainly feed themselves and are able to fly within 20 days of hatching.<p>When feeding, a red-necked phalarope will often swim in a small, rapid circle, forming a small whirlpool. This behaviour is thought to aid feeding by raising food from the bottom of shallow water. The bird will reach into the centre of the vortex with its bill, plucking small insects or crustaceans caught up therein. On the open ocean, they are often found where converging currents produce upwellings. During migration, some flocks stop over on the open waters at the mouth of the Bay of Fundy to take advantage of food stirred up by tidal action.<p>Almost all of the nonbreeding season is spent in open water. As this species rarely comes into contact with humans, it can be unusually tame.<p>The red-necked phalarope is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies.
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
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Mountain Thrush
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Pied Butcherbird
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Medium-sized ambush-hunter with a long gray bill with a dark, hooked tip. Adult has black head, upper breast, back, and tail that contrast starkly with white nape, breast, belly, and wing pattern. Immature similarly patterned in brown instead of black. More likely than Gray Butcherbird to perch atop trees and poles. Beautiful fluting, whistling song, sometimes heard at night.
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