Phalarope à bec large

Identification

The red phalarope is about 21 cm (8.3 in) in length, with lobed toes and a straight bill, somewhat thicker than that of red-necked phalarope. The breeding female is predominantly dark brown and black above, with red underparts and white cheek patches. The bill is yellow, tipped black. The breeding male is a duller version of the female. Young birds are light grey and brown above, with buff underparts and a dark patch through the eye. In winter, the plumage is essentially grey above and white below, but the black eyepatch is always present. The bill is black in winter. Their call is a short beek.

Taxonomie

In 1750, the English naturalist George Edwards included an illustration and a description of the red phalarope in the third volume of his A Natural History of Uncommon Birds. He used the English name "The Red-footed Tringa". Edwards based his hand-coloured etching on a preserved specimen that had been brought to London from the Hudson Bay area of Canada by James Isham. When the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the tenth edition in 1758, he included the red phalarope and placed it with phalaropes and sandpipers in the genus Tringa. Linnaeus included a brief description, coined the binomial name Tringa fulicaria and cited Edwards' work. The red phalarope is now one of three species placed in the genus Phalaropus that was introduced in 1760 by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson. The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.<p>The English and genus names for phalaropes come through French phalarope and scientific Latin Phalaropus from Ancient Greek phalaris, "coot", and pous, "foot". The specific fulicarius is from Latin fulica, "coot". Coots and phalaropes both have lobed toes.

Nom scientifique

Phalaropus fulicarius

Autorité

(Linnaeus, 1758)

Ordre

Charadriiformes

Famille

Scolopacidés

Genre

Phalaropus

Répartition et habitat

Aire de reproduction

NA, PAL : mostly high (locally low) Arctic marshy tundra of Holarctic: from sw, ec Greenland, Iceland (local), Svalbard (n of Norway), Novaya Zemlya and n Siberia to Bering Strait; n Alaska and n Canada including s tier of Arctic Canadian islands

Aire hors reproduction

temperate to tropical coastal waters of Atlantic and Pacific oceans: from n California to s Chile (e Pacific) and Atlantic USA to n Florida (w North Atlantic); coastal waters of e tropical and South Atlantic off nw, w, sw Africa

Migration

Complete migrants

Comportement

When feeding, a red 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 outskirts of the vortex with its bill, plucking small insects or crustaceans caught up therein. They sometimes fly up to catch insects in flight. On the open ocean, they are found in areas where converging ocean currents produce upwellings and are often found near groups of whales. Outside of the nesting season they often travel in flocks.<p>This species is often very tame and approachable.

Conservation

The red phalarope is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies.

Tendance de la population

unknown