Bird of the Month - December 2004
Red Phalarope
Phalaropus fulicaria
The phalaropes are remarkable birds, adapted to life both on land and on open water. Each of the three species occurs in the Redwood Region. Among this trio, the Red Phalarope remains a bird of mystery for many. Although it migrates off our coast each spring and fall and is occasionally common or even (for brief periods) abundant, the great bulk of the population stays well offshore.
Red Phalaropes breed on low-lying wet tundra near the coast in the high Arctic, nearly as far north as land extends. In common with Red-necked (P. lobatus) and Wilson’s (P. tricolor) phalaropes, Red Phalaropes exhibit a dramatic reversal of the usual sex roles during breeding. Females are not only larger and more colorful than males, they also take the lead in initiating courtship, leaving the males to incubate eggs and care for nestlings. The nest is a shallow scrape lined with grass, lichen, and moss. While birds of each sex make scrapes, females select a final nest site, and males then add nest lining. A clutch typically of four eggs is incubated for 18-20 days. Like most shorebirds, young Red Phalaropes leave the nest soon after hatching and can fly at 16-18 days.
Birders aboard boats plying waters a few miles or more from shore can expect to see small numbers of these phalaropes during the spring migration, from late April through May. However, it is during the extended fall migration that most are observed. Some are present during the peak migration period of other northern-nesting shorebirds, from early August through September, yet greatest numbers are seen later in the season. Red Phalaropes are the most pelagic members of the family, occurring from the coastal estuaries, where typically scarce, hundreds of miles seaward out over deep ocean waters. They may associate loosely with Red-necked Phalaropes, especially over the continental shelf, but often assemble in large flocks consisting mostly of their own kind.
Red Phalaropes are notable for impressive “wrecks” that take place irregularly in November and December of some years. During such events, hundreds or indeed many thousands may be blown onshore as a result of prolonged gales and turbulent ocean conditions. Wrecks of phalaropes can’t be overlooked by even the most casual observer, as all wetland and aquatic habitats may be dotted with the hapless waifs. The surf zone, ocean beaches, lagoons, flooded pastures, and sewage ponds can support great numbers of phalaropes for days, with the glut of storm-driven migrants gradually diminishing as they either move onward, die of starvation, become injured by wire fences and telephone lines, or receive the attentions of birds of prey. Ultimately, the survivors spend the winter in ocean waters chiefly south of the Equator, though some appear to winter farther north.
Identification of alternate-plumaged Red Phalaropes is straightforward: they are richly colored with bright chestnut-reddish and have stout yellow bills. Birds in other plumages may pose challenges for the inexperienced. Compared to Red-necked, the other sea-going phalarope species, Reds are larger and chubbier, have paler upperparts, and usually have at least some pale coloration at the base of the bill. The fall migration of Red Phalaropes continues well beyond the seasonal limit for Red-necked Phalaropes, which ordinarily are no longer seen by the beginning of October. Two of the world’s three species, Red and Red-necked, breed at high latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere and winter on the ocean far to the south. Wilson’s Phalarope breeds chiefly in prairie and Great Basin wetlands and spends the colder months in South America. Of the first two mentioned, the Red-necked Phalarope is more familiar, as it migrates virtually across North America. Rare inland and less commonly seen even along the coast is the Red Phalarope.