Red-necked Phalarope

The Red-necked Phalarope is the smallest Phalarope in North America which are hardly ever seen due to their preference of the most remote locations. They breed in the frozen lands of the high Arctic and choose to head to the open seas to spend their winters in. Their choice of habitats means that they hardly ever come on land and that there is insufficient data on many aspects of their life. This also means that they are not very scared of human beings, as they have had very little interaction with them.

About Red-necked Phalaropes

Like other Phalaropes, these birds exhibit reversed sexual roles in their mating system. Females compete for mates and are more vibrantly colored, while males are duller and fully responsible for incubating the eggs and brooding the young chicks once they hatch. This aspect is one of the most interesting parts of Phalaropes, and Red-necked Phalaropes are no different in this sense. Out of the three Phalarope species of North America, they are the ones that are the most difficult to spot and study.

Today, we are going to be talking about these beautifully elegant birds. They offer countless questions that not only capture the interests of avid birders but also of casual observers who happen to come across them.

● Red-necked Phalarope Photos, Color Pattern, Song
● Red-necked Phalarope Size, Eating Behavior, Habitat
● Red-necked Phalarope Range and Migration, Nesting

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Red-necked Phalarope Color Pattern

Breeding females are vibrant, with a dark gray to black head, neck, and breast. A bright chestnut red sweeps down from behind their ears and goes down the sides of their neck. They have a sharp white chin and an eyespot, along with gray flanks that become smudged with white by their tail. They have dark gray upper wings and a dark back, with their wings displaying a prominent white bar through it. The undersides of their wings are white, contrasting with their darker upper parts. There is also a dark bar across the median wing coverts, with their rump and tail dark gray except for whitish sides to the rump. Their toes are very fine and dark gray to bluish-gray, while their bill is also black. The underparts of these birds are fully white and contrast with their dark rump.

Breeding males look similar but are paler and duller overall, with pale brown to brownish-gray upperparts. The white spot by their eye is not as prominent and may appear to be a short eyebrow-like streak that connects their head to the chestnut patch on their head. Some males may also lack the red patch. Nonbreeding birds of both sexes are similar to each other in appearance, with a white head that has a black streak going through it. They have a dark patch on the rear crown and nape, with underparts that are white. Sometimes there are gray smudges on their breast and flanks, blending in perfectly with their otherwise gray upper parts. They also have white fringes on their scapulars and mantle edges.

Juveniles look similar to nonbreeding adults but have a dark brown crown, eye-streak, nape, hindneck, upper parts, and tail. They have a pinkish-rust to tan-colored wash on the sides and front of the neck, along with an orange-gold edging on their flight feathers. Their breast is buff, while the rest of their underparts are white.

Description and Identification

These birds are extremely hard to find, much less a spot. If one is lucky enough to be close to their breeding range, the females’ brilliantly colored plumes give them away. The bright red chestnut patch on the cheek of the females is a sure-fire way of identifying them accurately. Their soft, clinking, and sometimes a little nasally calls are also another trait that can help close observers confirm their taxon. If these birds are in flight, the streak that goes through their wings helps one identifying them even more. The classic habit of creating a vortex while foraging is the last and final method of properly identifying them.

Red-necked Phalarope Song

These Phalaropes do not have the broadest vocal range. They generally utter short, sharp, high-pitched notes which may strung together to form larger patterns. These usually sound like a “pip pip pip” or “pit pit titrit tit it” or “plip clit clip tlit twick wick bitt”. Both of the sexes also call out a “wedu wedu wedu” during nest building and courtship. They also have contact calls for a similar person, a metallic monosyllabic note that sounds like “plunck” and “clerk”. Both sexes use a continuous and rapidly repeated “wewewewewewe”, a sound that is similar to that made by lapwings. It’s a high-pitch twittering that you can hear during nest scraping, building, egg-laying, or aggressive situations. Incubating males that attack unfamiliar females also give out high-pitched squeaks, suggesting that these birds can recognize their mates by the calls alone.

Short, rasping squawks of low volume have also been recorded from individuals that were alarmed after being picked up. Their other alarm sounds can include a rattling skirret or a drawn-out whip sound. A soft “gwook” and a snipe-like “caaatch” have also been heard from birds whose nests were disturbed or were in the middle of a display to distract a predator. Males often making clucking “prruk” sounds and whistled “wheep” in response to chicks. There is very little information on the vocal developments of chicks, but they are capable of calls that sound like “sweep” or “kuuik”. The sweep call is also used by adults, although the context for this is unknown and is most likely a contact call. Fledglings utter a “psychyit” that gradually develops into a chirping “psirrt” when they are excited. These calls are generally uttered when the birds are excited.

Red-necked Phalarope Size

Red-necked Phalaropes are small shorebirds with a body length of 7.1-7.5 inches, and an approximate weight of 0.9-1.4 ounces. Females generally tend to be larger than males, but their sizes may overlap. They have a slender neck, a thin and sharp bill, and graceful wings that have a wingspan of 12.6-16.1 inches. These proportions make them larger than Least Sandpipers but slightly smaller than Red Phalaropes.

Red-necked Phalarope Behavior

These shorebirds spend most of their time on the water and rarely ever come on land unless they are nesting. They are also strong fliers, taking straight strides with their wings and moving at very high speeds over open seas during migration. Red-necked Phalaropes are also excellent swimmers, often propelling themselves by paddling on the surface of the water. They swim in circles to create a natural vortex that sucks up their invertebrate prey towards them.

These birds are well-known for their reversed roles during the breeding seasons. Females are primarily occupied with polyandry, with multiple females competing for male mates and taking on more than one at the same time. Competition usually occurs within mobile flocks that are centered around a single male, but cases of females taking on additional mates as breeding seasons extend are numerous. Courtship mostly occurs during migration but continues throughout the breeding seasons. Males may initiate courtship which is followed by females engaging in aerial chases with them.

Aggressive behavior is also the most noticeable during the breeding and migration seasons. Conflicts include threats with the retraction and extension of the neck, flying towards the opponent, and rare physical fights. While these behaviors are at their peak during the warmer seasons, these birds may get aggressive with one and other on their wintering grounds if food is scarce.

Red-necked Phalarope Diet

These birds primarily eat small aquatic invertebrates and crustaceans that include midges and shrimp. They consume a variety of flies and their larvae, beetles, zooplankton, caddisflies, and other insects of mainly aquatic species. They may also eat certain seeds when insect prey dwindles, but this is likely very rare. On their wintering grounds, their diet inculcates brine shrimp and brine flies if available, but more details about what they eat on their wintering grounds are not well known.

Red-necked Phalarope Habitat

Red-necked Phalaropes can be found breeding around lakes, bogs, oceans, bays, and marshes in the Arctic tundra or tundra-forest boundary. They spend the winters out at sea in places where streams of current or other effects of water pressure bring plankton to the surface. Smaller numbers may also spend winters on inland ponds. They also seem to
favor sewage ponds, where insects are abundant.

Range and Migration

These birds breed in the high arctic zone, ranging through the boreal forests of Alaska and all of northern Canada. The cooler months take them towards open water in the surroundings, usually in the Pacific or the Atlantic Ocean. Due to this, they rarely ever come in contact with humans and seem to display no fear in human presence. They settle over
open waters due to their dependence on various plankton for a sustainable diet.

Red-necked Phalarope Lifecycle

After an evenly-paced out courtship, these birds mate and lay 3-4 buffy eggs. Females tend to leave the nest site and look for another mate after laying the eggs, while males remain and incubate the eggs for around 17-21 days. Once the eggs hatch, the chicks emerge fully feathered with their eyes open. They are generally able to feed themselves
almost immediately, though the males continue to tend to them and brood them. If the young are threatened, the males try to lure predators away and protect them. Males leave the brood after 2 weeks, and the young are able to fly at about 3 weeks.

Nesting

Both members of the pair scout for nest sites on mossy hummocks lined with sedges and grasses, generally on areas that are close to standing water. The nest itself is just a simple, shallow depression that is scraped out of the ground. Males then add bits of vegetation to the nest while the female lays her eggs.

Anatomy of a Red-necked Phalarope

Red-necked Phalaropes are small shorebirds with a body length of 7.1-7.5 inches, and an approximate weight of 0.9-1.4 ounces. They have a slender neck, a thin and sharp bill, and graceful wings that have a wingspan of 12.6-16.1 inches. These proportions make them larger than Least Sandpipers but slightly smaller than Red Phalaropes.

Final Thoughts

Red-necked Phalaropes breed in the Arctic and winter at sea, so population trends are difficult to estimate. Due to their remote habitats, tracking them is extremely difficult and most bird surveys can only estimate their total numbers. This ambiguity in data means that they are not on the Partners in Flight Watch List and are a species of low conservation concern. While global trends are unknown, steep declines have been reported at migration sites in eastern Canada, linked to declines in zooplankton associated with cool waters. They may also face difficulties in their breeding grounds due to climate change, as is the case with other birds of the high north.

Among most shorebirds, Phalaropes are one of the most fascinating ones. They break the conventional ideas regarding most waterfowl and constantly challenge the norms that birders have held for decades. Questions surrounding why and how Red-necked Phalaropes winter over open seas have plagued scientific communities for long now, with no clear answers in store for the near future. It reminds one of the importance of preserving these birds and
making better conservation efforts, lest we lose the opportunity to get our answers forever.

Ornithology

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