Family:
Wilson’s phalarope is a small, stocky shorebird with a slender neck, long legs, pointed wings, and a very thin, straight, long bill. Females in breeding plumage have white underparts, blue-grey and brown upperparts with a rust wash on the neck. There is a black stripe through the eye that extends down the neck. Males are duller and the eye stripe does not extend as far down.
In non-breeding plumage Wilson’s phalaropes have pale grey upperparts and lack the strong facial markings.
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Wilson’s phalaropes eat mainly small aquatic invertebrates such as insects and crustaceans. It forages by swimming rapidly, in small circles which creates a vortex and draws the food up to the surface. It will also catch prey from the surface of the water and probe in mud.
Wilson’s phalaropes breed in western Canada and the western United States. It is found on marshes, shrubby areas, and wet meadows, and during migration on salty lakes and mudflats in Central America. It winters in South America particularly on salt lakes near the Andes in Argentina.
