Red-necked Phalarope
The Red-necked Phalarope is a small wader with lobed toes to assist swimming and a straight, fine bill. The breeding female is predominantly dark grey above with a chestnut neck and upper breast, black face and white throat. The breeding male is a duller version of the female. In winter, the plumage is essentially grey above and white below but the black eyepatch is always present.
When feeding, a Red-necked Phalarope will often swim in a small, rapid circle, forming a small whirlpool. This behaviour is thought to aid feeding by raising food from the bottom of shallow water. The bird will reach into the centre of the vortex with its bill, plucking small insects or crustaceans caught up therein. On the open ocean, they are often found where converging currents produce upwellings.
The Red-necked Phalarope breeds in the Arctic regions of north America and Eurasia. It is migratory and, unusually for a wader, it winters at sea on tropical oceans.
The Red-necked Phalarope is one of the UK's rarest breeding waders and is on the southern-most edge of its range here. It has always been mainly confined to the Northern and Western Isles of Scotland.
The Government agreed a Biodiversity Action Plan for this species in 1998. The targets for this plan have recently been reviewed and aim to maintain and expand the Red-necked Phalarope as a breeding species at existing sites and to enable range expansion to a number of previously occupied sites.
Fetlar holds 90% of the UK breeding population and this bird was photographed at the RSPB's reserve at the Loch of Funzie.
Date: 01/06/03
Location: Loch of Funzie, Fetlar, Shetland
When feeding, a Red-necked Phalarope will often swim in a small, rapid circle, forming a small whirlpool. This behaviour is thought to aid feeding by raising food from the bottom of shallow water. The bird will reach into the centre of the vortex with its bill, plucking small insects or crustaceans caught up therein. On the open ocean, they are often found where converging currents produce upwellings.
The Red-necked Phalarope breeds in the Arctic regions of north America and Eurasia. It is migratory and, unusually for a wader, it winters at sea on tropical oceans.
The Red-necked Phalarope is one of the UK's rarest breeding waders and is on the southern-most edge of its range here. It has always been mainly confined to the Northern and Western Isles of Scotland.
The Government agreed a Biodiversity Action Plan for this species in 1998. The targets for this plan have recently been reviewed and aim to maintain and expand the Red-necked Phalarope as a breeding species at existing sites and to enable range expansion to a number of previously occupied sites.
Fetlar holds 90% of the UK breeding population and this bird was photographed at the RSPB's reserve at the Loch of Funzie.
Date: 01/06/03
Location: Loch of Funzie, Fetlar, Shetland
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