Medium. Small, very thin straight bill, plump with longish neck, lobed feet. Sexes different.
Adults: Non-breeding: Forehead, broad eyebrow, underparts, white. Sides of breast, grey. Narrow patch around eye to ear, black. Eye, brown. Crown, hind neck, back, wings, grey to blackish, feathers on back, scapulars, coverts, edged white. Central tail feathers, grey with dark tip, outer feathers paler. Bill, black. Legs, grey to blackish.
Female: Breeding: Broken eyering, throat, center of breast, belly, undertail coverts, underwing, white. Remainder of head, hind neck, sides of breast, back, scapulars, wings, blackish-grey, feathers at sides of back and edges to scapulars gloden, forming parallel lines down back. Line behind eye broadening on neck forming a band across front of neck, rufous. Greater and inner primary coverts broadly tipped white forming a white wing bar. Rump, central tail feathers, blackish-brown, outer tail feathers become progressively lighter and mixed with white and buff.
Male: Breeding: Paler and band around front of neck may be greyish with paler rufous confined to sides of neck.
Immatures: Grey upperparts of non-breeding adult are dark brown. Lines on back, edges to scapulars, tertials, coverts, golden, as in breeding adult. Front of neck, pale rufous.
Other Names (World)
Red-necked Phalarope, Northern Phalarope, Round-nosed Phalarope
Family
Scolopacidae (Sandpipers, Snipes, Phalaropes)
Afghanistan (P), Aruba, Azerbaijan (P), Bahrain, Belgium, Canada (B) (P), Chile, China (mainland), Colombia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark (P), Ecuador, Egypt, Eritrea, Estonia (B), Faroe Islands (B), Finland (B) (P), France (NB) (P), Germany (P), Greenland (B), Hong Kong (China), Iceland (B), India, Indonesia, Iran [Islamic Republic of], Iraq (P), Ireland (B), Japan, Jordan (P), Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Malaysia, Netherlands Antilles, North Korea, Norway (B) (P), Oman (P), Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Poland (P), Qatar, Russia (Asian) (B), Russia (Central Asian) (B) (P), Russia (European) (B) (P), Saudi Arabia, Somalia, South Korea, Spain, St Pierre and Miquelon (P), Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands (B), Sweden (B) (P), Taiwan (China), Thailand, Timor-Leste (NB) (P), Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine (P), United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom (B), USA (B), Uzbekistan, Vietnam.
Vagrant to Algeria, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Belize, Bermuda, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria (P), Burundi, Cayman Islands, Congo [The Democratic Republic of the], Costa Rica, Croatia (Local Name: Hrvatska), Cuba, Djibouti, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Georgia, Gibraltar, Greece (P), Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Kenya, Laos, Lebanon, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Luxembourg, Malta, Mauritania, Mexico, Moldova [Republic of], Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands Antilles, New Zealand, Nigeria, Northern Mariana Islands, Panama, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Romania, Serbia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Slovakia (Slovak Republic), Slovenia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Switzerland, Syrian Arab Republic, Tajikistan, Tanzania [United Republic of], Tunisia, Turks and Caicos Islands, Uganda, Yemen, Zambia.
Circumpolar, in coastal regions of Arctic Ocean, south to Aleutians and north-western Britain. Winters pelagically off central-western South America, in Arabian Sea and from central Indonesia to western Melanesia.
Food
Insects, molluscs, crustaceans, spiders, worms and some plant material. Invertebrates taken from the surface of the water. Mostly insects in summer.
Voice
A short, 'kitt' or 'kirrik'. A soft, repeated, 'chuk', 'chek' or 'twit', uttered in flight.
Red-necked Phalarope (Phalaropus lobatus) [XC103504]
by Ryan P. O'Donnell from St. Paul Island, Alaska, United States (call)
Red-necked Phalarope (Phalaropus lobatus) [XC109658]
by Thijs Fijen from Pescadero State Beach, San Mateo, California, United States (call)
Breeding Season (Guide)
Does not breed in Australia. Breeds June - July in Arctic - Sub-antarctic marshes and scrubs.
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Nest
A depression in the ground, lined with grass.
Eggs (Guide)
3 - 4; light brown or olive, heavily spotted and blotched with dark reddish-brown; oval to pyriform; about 30 x 21 mm. Incubation: 17 - 21 days; by male.
Young
Fledge in about 20 days.
Subspecies
Sometimes placed in monospecific genus Lobipes.
No subspecies.
Similar Species
Wilson's Phalarope (Steganopus tricolor)
Slightly larger. Non-breeding with non-breeding. Bill, also black and needle-like, but longer. Upperparts, lighter grey. Eye patch, lighter and less distinct, extending to nape. Lacks a white wing bar. Legs, pale yellow.
Grey Phalarope (Phalaropus fulicarius)
Slightly larger. Non-breeding with non-breeding. Bill, thicker, often yellowish at base. More robust, with paler, plainer grey upperparts. Lacks a white rump.
Wilson's Phalarope (Steganopus tricolor) is a rare vagrant to Australia. Currently only southern NSW, southern Vic. Grey Phalarope (Phalaropus fulicarius) is a rare vagrant to Australia. Currently only northern and southern Vic, southern SA.
Compare Images
The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Pizzey, G., and Knight, E., 1997, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 19691 5
Field Guide to Australian Birds Morecombe, M., 2000, Steve Parish Publishing Pty Ltd. ISBN 1 876282 10 X
Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Simpson, K., and Day, N., 1999, 6th Edition, Viking ISBN 0 670 87918 5
Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds 1988, 2nd Edition, Reader's Digest ISBN 0 949819 99 9
What Bird is That? 1984, Revised Edition, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 14846 5
Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds 1990 - , Oxford University Press, Melbourne ISBN 0 19 553244 9
BirdLife International Species Factsheet