Wilson’s Phalarope

The Wilson’s Phalarope is one of the most elegant and fascinating waterbirds in North America. Their gracefully pointed tails and slender necks give them an appearance resembling a miniature swan. The two sexes reverse roles during the breeding seasons. Brightly colored breeding females are larger, compete for mates, and may take on more than a single mate at times, while the males are responsible for incubating the eggs and raising the young.

About Wilson’s Phalaropes

These birds are the only Phalaropes of North America that nest away from the Arctic seas, opting for their preferred habitats of prairie marshes. These are also the only phalaropes out of the three North American species that prefer to nest in inland areas, with large flocks gathering around the Great Lakes region and migrating towards South America. Among the other features that make them special between shorebirds is that they swim in deeper water and begin spinning in circles to cause a natural suction for their prey.

The immeasurable amounts of eccentricities make Wilson’s Phalaropes stand out. These beautiful birds offer countless peculiarities that capture the interests of not only avid birders but also casual observers. And so, the topic for today will be these extraordinary waterbirds.

● Wilson’s Phalarope Photos, Color Pattern, Song
● Wilson’s Phalarope Size, Eating Behavior, Habitat
● Wilson’s Phalarope Range and Migration, Nesting

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Wilson’s Phalarope Color Pattern

Wilson’s Phalaropes look similar to each other during the cooler months of the year but are different during breeding season. Females have a pale bluish-gray forehead and crown. They also have a white “eyebrow” that borders the top of their eye and ends before their bill. A white streak trails from the back of their head and ends at their upper back. It contrasts with their buffy-cinnamon throat. Their mantle is a chestnut, while their wings are a pale grayish-brown that highlights the blue tints in the light. Their underparts and rump are white, while their tail is a pale grayish color. The bill is black, and the legs are grayish-black.

Breeding males have similar patterns of shades but are less vibrant overall. Their smaller stature and their duller colors are generally what make them distinct from their female counterparts. During the nonbreeding seasons, both sexes look similar to each other in color. They both have pale gray upper and underparts, along with a white rump. The bill and legs do not change throughout the year. Juveniles look distinct, with dusky to black shades ranging from their crown to their flight feathers. These shades have pinkish cinnamon or cinnamon-buff edges that may create a pattern for some individuals. Their underparts are chiefly white but begin to carry reddish tones as they grow older.

Description and Identification

Breeding adults are rather distinct to the naked eye. They have relatively long legs and live in small marshes and shallow wetlands during their breeding seasons. Adult females are striking in appearance and often swim in circles as they forage for their prey. These birds forage in much deeper water than other shorebirds, with their angular and delicate shapes giving them away from a distance. During migration seasons, they gather in huge numbers around the salty lakes of western North America and depart in large numbers for their long journey towards South America. Their calls are generally a low, nasal note that can sometimes resemble a frog-like croak.

Wilson’s Phalarope Song

Like most other waterfowl, Wilson’s Phalaropes do not have the widest vocal range. There are four distinct calls that are directly related to their courtship practices. The first is a short and nasal ernt that most likely functions as a contact call between the members of the pair. Females also use these calls during courtship, with the intensity of the calls increasing with aggression when their mates are in danger. Females also emit a low and hollow “wa” call, which can either be a single note or a series of rapid successive notes to facilitate long-distance communication. They extend their necks in flight as they let out this call.

The purr is a guttural call of a very low frequency, often only heard from a close range. The context of these calls is not fully understood, but it often occurs between competing females and between mates after pair formation. Scientists have assumed that the function of this type of call is to de-escalate aggressive situations. Their last call is a frog-like croak that is known as the chug call. When they are close to their mates, it is emitted by females, often accompanied by expanded neck feathers along with their long necks protruding forward. Males sometimes respond aggressively to these calls, which may initiate pair formation.

Wilson’s Phalarope Size

These shorebirds are small, with an approximate body length of 8.7–9.4 inches long. They have long legs, elongated and slender necks, and very thin and straight bills that are also long. Their wings are sharply pointed with a wingspan of 15.3–16.9 inches, while their weight is around 1.3–3.9 ounces. Females are clearly larger than males and are heavier and greater in length accordingly. Overall, these proportions make them larger than Least Sandpipers and smaller than Killdeers.

Wilson’s Phalarope Behavior

These shorebirds spend most of their time on the water but can be observed to spend more time on land as compared to other Phalaropes. They often stand on one foot as they sleep and may also perch on towers during the breeding seasons. They are also strong fliers, taking straight strides with their wings and moving at very high speeds over open seas during migration. Unlike many other shorebirds, they are found in deeper waters and can be found foraging in a, particularly, unique manner. They swim in circles to create a natural vortex that sucks up their invertebrate prey towards them, a fascinating behavior that is not commonly observed.

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. Males defending their feeding territories against Blue-winged Teals are also common.

Wilson’s 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, true bugs, and other insects of mainly aquatic species. They also eat copepods and seeds of marsh plants when insect prey dwindles. On their wintering grounds, their diet inculcates
brine shrimp and brine flies if available.

Wilson’s Phalarope Habitat

Wilson’s Phalaropes breed within inland wetlands, upland shrubby areas, marshes, sewage stops, and roadside ditches. They tend to gravitate towards shallow freshwater marshes in open countries, opting for any kind of habitat that meets those requirements. During the migration seasons, they stop at ponds, coastal marshes, sewage
treatment plants, and salty or alkaline lakes. Most of their numbers tend to gather at the saline lakes in western North America. Their wintering habitats are similar and include the salt lakes of the high Andean regions, along with the wetlands that are present in southern South America.

Range and Migration

These birds are found nesting in the marshy prairies of western North America, ranging all the way from northern Canada to the north-western United States. Migration seasons take them through much of the United States and Mexico, where they prefer to inhabit the saline and alkaline lakes of North America as they pass through the Great Plains. These long-distance migrants make many long nonstop flights as continue to travel through Central America, before reaching the western coasts of South America. Their wintering range in South America is long and exhaustive, extending all the way to Chile and Argentina.

Wilson’s 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 18–27 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.

Nesting

Nest sites are selected by females in an area that is around the edge of a wetland or in the surrounding upland vegetation. Females create a scrape on the ground, but the males are responsible for arranging the surrounding vegetation around the eggs in order to make a cup-shaped enclosure. The structure itself is a shallow depression with a thin lining of grass to incubate the eggs.

Anatomy of a Wilson’s Phalarope

These shorebirds are small, with an approximate body length of 8.7–9.4 inches long. They have long legs, elongated and slender necks, and very thin and straight bills that are also long. Their wings are sharply pointed with a wingspan of 15.3–16.9 inches, while their weight is around 1.3–3.9 ounces. Females are clearly larger than males and are heavier and greater in length accordingly. Overall, these proportions make them larger than Least Sandpipers and smaller than Killdeers.

Final Thoughts

The estimates of their numbers since 1966 have greatly varied due to the lack of studies, but there is a consensus that their populations have declined slightly since then. The greatest threats to their populations are presumably habitat loss due to the conversion of marshy wetlands, as they are still primarily dependent on freshwater and saline marshes, and on the presence of surface water. The loss of habitats not only puts their breeding grounds at risk but also poses numerous threats to their migratory routes. Although further studies are yet to be conducted, they presumably face threats that are shared by most shorebirds.

Few birds leave an impression as strong as the ones Wilson’s Phalaropes do. They not only parade eloquently beautiful appearances, but they also flaunt some of the most curious mannerisms among all members of the avian world. These peculiarities have incited more questions than answers in the birding world and continue to do so with every study that emerges. Beyond their peculiarities, the large flocks that cross through multitudes of countries are one of the finest spectacles to all those who are lucky enough to witness it. Because of their expansive range, catching a glimpse of these robust travelers is a treat to all those who know about them, and to all those who do not.

Ornithology

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The most common types of bird watching binoculars for viewing Wilson’s Phalaropes are 8×21 binoculars and 10×42 binoculars. Bird Watching Academy & Camp sells really nice 8×21 binoculars and 10×42 binoculars. You can view and purchase them here.

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Bird Houses ForWilson’s Phalaropes

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