Red-necked Phalarope

Phalaropus lobatus (Linnaeus, 1758)

18 cmLength34 cmWingspan37 gWeight

This small wader often spins rapidly on the water when foraging, and the female is brighter than the male in the breeding season.

Busiest months: August–September · Most records: United States, Canada, Iceland

Least Concern

How to identify

Field marks

Bill straight, long and slender
Breeding female has a chestnut neck and upper breast
One white stripe on the wing
Grayish-white in winter, retaining a black eye patch

Male, female and young

Breeding male is a duller version of female; juvenile has gray-brown upperparts and yellowish-brown underparts.

Voice

A sharp “whit” or “twit”.

Where and when it's recorded

Red-necked Phalarope has been recorded at 1,328 of the 8,171 birding hotspots we track, in 109 countries and regions.

Records by month Northern Hemisphere

Where it's recorded most

St. Paul IslandUnited States5,453 records
Antelope Island SP – CausewayUnited States4,190 records
Willcox – Lake Cochise and Twin Lakes Golf CourseUnited States2,977 records

More places

Southeast Farallon IslandUnited States2,513 records
GambellUnited States2,346 records
Piute PondsUnited States2,249 records
IRWD San Joaquin Marsh & Wildlife Sanctuary, IrvineUnited States1,816 records
Philomath Sewage PondsUnited States1,788 records
Woodland WTPUnited States1,625 records
KaldbakstjarnirIceland1,554 records

Countries and regions with the most records

United States Canada Iceland China Israel Thailand United Kingdom Norway

eBird records via GBIF up to 2024-12-31. A record means someone listed it; more records partly mean more birders, not more birds.

About

The red-necked phalarope (Phalaropus lobatus), also known as the northern phalarope and hyperborean phalarope, is a small wader. This phalarope breeds in the Arctic regions of North America and Eurasia. It is migratory, and, unusually for a wader, winters at sea on tropical oceans.

Excerpt from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · authors · Read more on Wikipedia

Questions

How big is the Red-necked Phalarope?

The Red-necked Phalarope is about 18 cm long, with a wingspan of 34 cm and weighs around 37 g.

Where does the Red-necked Phalarope live?

Its breeding range: North America, Palearctic: mostly low Arctic to subarctic Holarctic tundra and alpine tundra: southern Greenland, Iceland, Scotland (rare), northern Scandinavia, and Arctic and subarctic Russia to Kamchatka, Kuril and Commander islands; Aleutian Islands, Arctic and subarctic Alaska and Canada. It is most often recorded in United States, Canada and Iceland.

When is the best time to see the Red-necked Phalarope?

At the hotspots we track, it is recorded most in August and September (Northern Hemisphere).

Is the Red-necked Phalarope endangered?

The IUCN Red List classifies the Red-necked Phalarope as Least Concern.

What does the Red-necked Phalarope eat?

Main food: Fish, shrimp & shellfish.

What family is the Red-necked Phalarope in?

It belongs to the family Sandpipers, Snipes (Scolopacidae), order Charadriiformes.

At a glance

Length: 18 cm
Wingspan: 34 cm
Weight: 37 g
Habitat: Wetland
Diet: Fish, shrimp & shellfish
Lifestyle: Active on the ground
Migration: Migratory
Conservation: Least Concern

More measurements

Wing: 109 mm
Tail: 51 mm
Bill: 24 mm
Tarsus: 19 mm

Averages from the AVONET dataset; length from field guides where available.

Range

North America, Palearctic: mostly low Arctic to subarctic Holarctic tundra and alpine tundra: southern Greenland, Iceland, Scotland (rare), northern Scandinavia, and Arctic and subarctic Russia to Kamchatka, Kuril and Commander islands; Aleutian Islands, Arctic and subarctic Alaska and Canada

Breeding range, IOC World Bird List 15.2