All species › Waders, gulls and terns › Sandpipers and allies › Red-necked Phalarope
Red-necked Phalarope | Phalaropus lobatus
Grauwe franjepoot | Falaropo picofino | Falaropo-de-bico-fino
The Red-necked Phalarope is the smallest phalarope and winters largely at sea in the eastern tropical Pacific. Off the coasts of Ecuador and Peru and around the Galápagos dense flocks then feed on the water, sometimes thousands together. It spins rapidly on the water and picks small animals from the surface with its needle-thin bill.
Voice
Usually silent in the guide area. In flocks a short, sharp twick or kit, especially when flushed.
Recording: Stanislas Wroza — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
18–19 cm, a small, slim phalarope with a thin, needle-like black bill. In non-breeding plumage dark grey above with pale, white stripes on the back and scapulars, white below, with a white head, a black patch behind the eye and a dark hindcrown. In flight a narrow white wing bar and a dark centre to the rump. In breeding plumage, sometimes partly seen by April, the female is dark slate grey with a white throat and rufous neck sides and foreneck, with buff stripes on the back; the male is duller. Juveniles are dark above with buff stripes.
Confusion species
Red Phalarope Phalaropus fulicarius is larger and stockier, with a thicker bill, plain pale grey upperparts without stripes and a broader wing bar. Wilson's Phalarope Phalaropus tricolor is larger, with a longer bill, pale grey upperparts, no wing bar and a white rump, and lives mainly on inland lakes. Sanderling Calidris alba has a thicker bill and paler upperparts, and does not swim.
Habitat
Open sea and inshore waters, especially along current lines and where cold and warm water meet, also in bays and river mouths; on migration on coastal lagoons, salt pans and sewage ponds and rarely on lakes in the Andes. It swims and spins on the water, picking copepods, insect larvae and other small animals from the surface. It does not breed in the guide area.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
In Ecuador and Peru an abundant winter visitor at sea and passage migrant along the coast, with large numbers around the Galápagos and off the coast of Ecuador. Off the Pacific coast of Colombia scarcer. In Bolivia and on the lakes of the Andes a rare passage migrant. Breeds on the Arctic and subarctic tundra around the North Pole and winters at sea, among other places in the eastern tropical Pacific, the Arabian Sea and the waters of Indonesia.
- Resident
- Passage (Mar–Apr, Oct–Nov)
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Search during boat trips between the Galápagos islands or on pelagic trips off the coasts of Ecuador and Peru, between September and April; flocks sit on the water and fly off low and fast when approached.
Conservation status
Least Concern. At sea the species is sensitive to oil pollution and to fluctuations in food supply during El Niño; at some staging sites in North America numbers have fallen sharply.
Scientific name
Phalaropus lobatus | (Linnaeus, 1758)
Linnaeus described the species in 1758 as Tringa tobata; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Phalaropus was introduced in 1760 by Brisson. The genus name combines Greek phalaris, 'coot', with pous, 'foot'. Coots and phalaropes both have lobed toes. The species name is New Latin lobatus, 'lobed', after the lobed toes. The specimen the first description was based on came from Hudson Bay, Canada.