Bird name:

Red-necked Phalarope

Phalaropus lobatus

Order

CHARADRIIFORMES

Family

Sandpipers (Scolopacidae)

Code 4

RNPH

Code 6

PHALOB

ITIS

176735

Breeding Location:

Tundra

Breeding Type:

Monogamous

Breeding Population:

Abundant

Egg Color:

Buff olive with brown spots

Number of Eggs:

3 - 4

Incubation Days:

17 - 21

Egg Incubator:

Male

Nest Material:

Lined with grasses and leaves.

Migration:

Migratory

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General

Red-necked Phalarope: Medium-sized sandpiper with brown-striped dark gray back, mottled gray breast, and white throat and belly. Head, nape, and flanks are gray. Neck and upper breast are rust-brown. Bill is thin and black. Female is more brightly colored with darker face and smaller white throat patch. Winter adult has gray crown, eyestripe, and upperparts, and white underparts. Juvenile resembles winter adult but is browner.

Range and Habitat

Red-necked Phalarope: Breeds in the Arctic south to James Bay, the Aleutians, and the southern tip of Greenland. Spends winters off Peru, the southern Arabian Peninsula, and Indonesia. Inhabits open ocean and beaches; found on shallow rivers, lakes, and mudflats during migration.

Breeding and Nesting

Red-necked Phalarope: Three to four buff olive eggs spotted with brown are laid in a shallow dip on marshy tundra. Nest is lined with grass and leaves. Incubation ranges from 17 to 21 days and is carried out by the male.

Foraging and Feeding

Red-necked Phalarope: Diet consists mainly of insects; forages by spinning quickly in shallow water to create a vortex, churning up tiny invertebrates.

Vocalization

Red-necked Phalarope: Call is a sharp "twit" or "whit."

Similar Species

Red-necked Phalarope: Red Phalarope is larger, darker, has a strongly striped back and blacker crown, more distinct wing stripe, and more needlelike bill; bill is yellow with a black tip in breeding season.

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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

Underparts

Belly, undertail coverts, chest, flanks, and foreneck.

Upperparts

Back, rump, hindneck, wings, and crown.

Belly

The ventral part of the bird, or the area between the flanks on each side and the crissum and breast. Flight muscles are located between the belly and the breast.

Breast

The upper front part of a bird.

Crown

The crown is the top part of the birds head.

Face

The front part of the head consisting of the bill, eyes, cheeks and chin.

Nape

Also called the hindneck or collar, it is the back of the neck where the head joins the body.

4 and 6 letter alpha codes

The four letter common name alpha code is is derived from the first two letters of the common first name and the first two letters of common last name. The six letter species name alpha code is derived from the first three letters of the scientific name (genus) and the first three letters of the scientific name (species). See (1) below for the rules used to create the codes..

Four-letter (for English common names) and six-letter (for scientific names) species alpha codes were developed by Pyle and DeSante (2003, North American Bird-Bander 28:64-79) to reflect A.O.U. taxonomy and nomenclature (A.O.U. 1998) as modified by Supplements 42 (Auk 117:847-858, 2000) and 43 (Auk 119:897-906, 2002). The list has been updated by Pyle and DeSante to reflect changes reported by the A.O.U from 2003 through 2006.

Field Guide to Birds of North America