Wilson's Phalarope
Phalaropus tricolor
Wilson's Phalaropes practice sex-role reversal; females are more colorful, compete for mates, and leave the males to incubate the eggs and raise the young.
- Scientific name
- Phalaropus tricolor
- Taxonomy
- Animalia › Chordata › Aves › Charadriiformes › Scolopacidae › Phalaropus
- IUCN Red List status
- Least Concern
- Population trend
- stable
- Biome
- wetland
- Habitat
- Saline lakes, freshwater marshes, and seasonal prairie potholes.
- Diet
- Aquatic invertebrates such as brine shrimp, brine flies, and midge larvae.
- Range
- North America, South America, Great Salt Lake, Mono Lake, The Andes
- Size
- 22-24 cm length with a 38-43 cm wingspan
- Lifespan
- Up to 10 years
- Active
- diurnal
- Threats
- Habitat loss due to water diversion from saline lakes and climate-driven drought.
- Safe to approach?
- Harmless. These birds are sensitive to disturbance while feeding. Maintain a distance of at least 30 meters and use binoculars to observe their spinning behavior. If they fly away, you have approached too closely.
The Wilson's phalarope ( Phalaropus tricolor ) is a small wader. This bird, the largest of the phalaropes, breeds in the prairies of North America in western Canada and the western United States. It is migratory, wintering in inland salt lakes near the Andes in Argentina. They are passage migrants through Central America around March/April and again during September/October. The species is a rare vagrant to western Europe.
Photo: Bill Levine, CC-BY, via iNaturalist
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