The Red Phalarope 
No. 229 
Red Phalarope 
A. O. U. No. 222. Phalaropus fulicarius (Linnaeus). 
Synonyms. —Gray Phalarope (in winter). Whale-bird. Coot-footed 
Tringa. Bank Bird (eastern). Sea Goose (eastern). 
Description. —Adult female in summer: Entire underparts, except lining of 
wing, purplish chestnut (Rood's brown) with a faint glaucous bloom; a few touches of 
white ventrally on parted tips of feathers, even in highest plumage; region about 
base of bill, forehead, and crown blackish plumbeous; sides of head (nearly meeting on 
nape), axillars, and lining of wings, greater wing-coverts, inner edges of inner tertials, 
and sides of rump, white; hind-neck, back, scapulars, and upper tail-coverts (centrally) 
black with buffy and ochraceous edgings, mostly in lengthwise pattern; lesser and middle 
wing-coverts and rump plumbeous dusky; wing-quills fuscous with white shafts, the 
inner primaries white-edged basally, and the secondaries extensively white at base; 
upper tail-coverts black with ochraceous tips centrally, plain cinnamon laterally. 
Adult male in breeding plumage: Similar, but smaller and duller; ventral feathers more 
extensively white-tipped; black of face largely replaced by ochraceous, and that of 
crown heavily streaked with ochraceous; white of sides of head persistent over eye 
only. Bill yellow with dusky tip; feet yellowish dusky. Adults in winter: Quite 
different: Upperparts ashy (deep gull gray) nearly uniform; wing darker ash or 
blackish, but with white bar as before; head and neck all around white, enclosing a 
dusky area through and behind each eye, and another on the hindhead; underparts 
entirely white or ashy—washed on sides only. A transition plumage often observed 
in the return migrations in August shows mingled black and ashy above and white and 
chestnut below. Immature: Above dull black with ochraceous edgings; wing-coverts, 
rump, and upper tail-coverts plumbeous,—the first bordered by buffy and the last 
by ochraceous; remainder of head and neck and lower parts white, tinged with brown¬ 
ish buff on the throat and chest (Ridgway). Length of adult female (av. of io skins): 
226.6 (8.92); wing 133.7 (5.26); bill 22.7 (.89); tarsus 22.8 (.90). Male smaller. 
Recognition Marks. —Towhee size; chestnut coloration of breeding plumage 
distinctive. In the gray and white autumnal plumage requires careful discrimination 
from the other Phalaropes. From Lobipes lobatus it differs in being much larger, much 
lighter (gull gray instead of black) above, dusky areas of head much reduced, bill 
stouter and especially broader. From Steganopus tricolor it differs in being smaller, 
stockier, purer white on breast, more extensively white on head, and especially in having 
a shorter, stouter bill. 
Nesting. —Does not breed in California. Nest: A slight hollow in the ground 
lined with bits of moss and grasses. Eggs: 4; deep to dark olive-buff, heavily spotted 
and blotched with brownish black (dark sepia). Av. size 30.5 x 21.6 (1.20 x .85). 
Season: June; one brood. 
General Range. —Northern and Southern Hemispheres. Breeds in Arctic and 
sub-Arctic latitudes; in North America from the Yukon mouth and central Keewatin 
north to northern Ellesmere Land. Migrates along both coasts of the LTnited States 
(casually in the interior) and winters on the oceans south at least to Juan Fernandez 
and Falkland Islands. 
nyi 
