View allAll Photos Tagged RedNeckedPhalarope
Mr. Red-Necked Phalarope. A few days earlier apparently there were a dozen or so of this species migrating through at this site. This time there was only the pair, but lifers for me, so quite thrilled to see them and thus keeping this awful pic, as my best of this fellow.
Phalaropes have the females as the flashy ones - the males actually raise the young, and are much more muted in color as a result. The females, once they have laid a clutch, sometimes even leave it with the male and go on and start another nest with a different male.
A red-necked phalarope (Phalaropus lobatus) was found in the VetMed pond on the Virginia Tech campus today. Since they breed in the Arctic, she's a little off-course. (A lifer for me!)
Male Red-necked Phalarope (Svømmesnipe, Phalaropus lobatus) at Vadsødammen, Vadsø, Varanger, Finnmark, Norway, June 2019.
Present in good numbers in the pond with up to 57 individuals.
Record shots of my first Red necked phalarope.Taken at RSPB Middleton Lakes in Staffordshire/Warwickshire.
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.
Red-necked Phalaropes photographed during a Brookline Bird Club pelagic trip from Hyannis, MA to Hydrographer Canyon on 18 July 2015.
Unfortunately, when I was observing this bird from a respectable distance, there was a photographer that kept walking up to the bird while it was trying to feed. It would then swim away from him to another spot. Again he would approach the bird and cause it to move. Repeat. One would think he could have let this out-of-place migrant that had stopped in a suboptimal location feed in peace.
Red-necked Phalarope. Previous records of only individual birds on four occasions in the NT. More in than a dozen in Dawin at around this time (+ one Grey), but these two weren't getting on...
One of the best places in Michigan to see Phalaropes is at the Muskegon Waste Water System. These were feeding in the dry well at that location. They were spinning around at a terrific rate feeding. You can clearly see the circular ripples that were created by this action.
This species has a huge range from Arctic Canada through Greenland to Eurasia. They frequently winter well offshore in tropical waters of the Indian, Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. I was therefore delighted to find several small flocks feeding on the saltpans at Khao Luang, some 60kms SW of Bangkok, Thailand in early March 2012. They occur in winter in offshore waters off Malaysia and Indonesia. In early April 2010 I saw several large flocks in the Pacific north of The Solomon Islands. Many were already changing into summer plumage. All those seen at Khao Luang were still in winter attire.