Wilson's Phalarope, Phalaropus tricolor


Wilson's Phalarope
Wilson's Phalaropes are strictly freshwater birds, unlike the other two phalarope species. They nest around lakes and ponds in the basins and plains of the US and Canada, and the southwestern extreme of their nesting area is Sierra Valley, just north of Lake Tahoe in California, where this and three following breeding-plumage photos were taken. They share with their sister species reverse sexual dimorphism, with females larger and more colorful, and males incubating the eggs and raising the young. Above is a breeding plumge female in a roadside pond in Sierra Valley.


Wilson's Phalarope, male, breeding plumage, 6/11/08, Heriot Lane, Sierra Valley, Plumas Co
The breeding plumage male, above and below, is almost completely plain gray, relieved only by variably orange-tinted plumage on the neck.


Wilson's Phalarope

Wilson's Phalarope


Wilson's Phalarope
A flying female, seen in molt from breeding to non-breeding plumage.

Wilson's Phalarope, male, breeding plumage, 6/8/08, Harriet Lane, Plumas Co, Sierra Valley


Wilson's Phalaropes
Adults migrating back from the nesting grounds in late July are still mostly in breeding plumage, above, while in late August, below, they show varying amounts of color, some all the way to the entirely plain gray non-breeding plumage.


Wilson's Phalaropes


Wilson's Phalarope
An adult in non-breeding plumage.


Wilson's Phalarope
Above is the full juvenal plumage, seen only infrequently away from the nesting grounds. Below, first basic
(first winter) plumage, with body feathers molted to adult plain gray and white, while the bright and strongly
striped juvenal flight feathers are retained. Most hatch-year birds in migration are seen in this plumage, or
molting to it.
 

Wilson's Phalarope


Wilson's Phalarope
Adult winter Wilson's Phalaropes with a dowitcher, above, and another one with a Lesser Yellowlegs, below.


Wilson's Phalarope