Red Phalarope (Phalaropus fulicaria)

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A Field Guide to Eastern Birds. by Roger Tory Peterson.

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Female Summer Plumage

Color Photographs: © by and courtesy of Stuart Healy Western U.S. Bird Guide

www.aztrogon.com

Winter Plumage

Color Photograph: Chan Robbins, U.S. Geological Survey

Red Phalarope (Phalaropus fulicaria)

Identification: Length from tip of bill to tip of tail 8 inches.

Female Summer Plumage: Back mottled with light brown and black. Wing with a distinct, white wing bar. Crown dark brown and face contrastingly white. Bill triangular, narrow, bicolored yellow and black. Throat, neck, breast, and undersides rusty-red. Toes lobed.

Male Summer Plumage: Similar to the female, but slightly duller.

Winter Plumage: Back light gray and undersides white, with a smudge of gray along the sides.

Similar Species:  The rusty-red undersides will immediately separate this species from the summer plumages of either Wilson's Phalarope or the Red-necked Phalarope. The winter plumage Wilson's Phalarope has a longer, narrower bill and is a larger bird. The back of the winter Red-necked Phalarope is much darker than that of the Red Phalarope.

Breeding Range (see map below): The Red Phalarope breeds along the coastalines of extreme northern Alaska and northern Canada. The species is also found in northern Europe and Asia.

Overwintering Range:  This species overwinters off the coasts of South America.

Habitat: The Red Phalarope breeds near marshes and ponds on the tundra. Migrating individuals are found on the shores of lakes and rivers and also on the open ocean off the shorelines of North America.

Food: Aquatic invertebrates.

Behavior: The Red Phalarope spends most of its time on the water and during the winter spends most of its time at sea. Like other phalaropes the female is the more brightly marked sex and the male spends its time tending the eggs and taking care of the young, an interesting role-reversal for the birds. The toes are heavily lobed and make the species an excellent swimmer. The voice is a sharp kreeep.

Reproduction:  The clutch consists of brown-spotted dull green eggs. The eggs are laid in a ground depression lined with grass and placed on a high spot in marshy tundra.