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Hebrides Bird Sightings: Grey Phalarope
Grey Phalarope
Phalaropus fulicarius
Photography © Terry Fountain
Stinky Bay - Benbecula - Outer Hebrides (Western Isles)
2nd January, 2008
Our Grey Phalarope Photographs
- Grey Phalarope
- AKA: Red Phalarope, Gaelic: Liathag Tllt
- Phalaropus fulicarius
- Passage Visitor
- 166 annual UK records BTO
- Breeds: Arctic regions: Iceland, Greenland, North Siberia, North America, North Europe
- Winters in the Southern oceans
- Diet: Invertebrates, (plus seeds etc when reaching breeding grounds)
- Habitat: coastal tundra (migration coasts)
- Small wader (21cm / 8 in length) . Winter mostly grey above & white below, with black eyepatch & straight black bill.
Breeding female dark brown & black above, red below, white cheek patches & yellow black-tipped bill. Breeding male similar but duller. Young birds light grey & brown above, buff below & dark eye patch- BTO records
Phalarope do not make typical monogamous pairings. The females are the most brightly coloured, they sing and court the males, and also fight each other for the attentions of the males.
The males incubate the eggs and feed the young whilst the females take on a second partner...
Phalarope feed by swirling up freshwater bottom sediments and eating the insects etc that rise up. The process by which they swirl the water makes them spin around.
Almost all the wintering is in done at sea.
Terry Fountain's web site:
http://www.hebridesphotographic.com
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